• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • TV/Radio Deals
  • Film partnerships
  • New appointments
  • Production
  • TV Channels
Mohammad Shihadah, AppTek

Mohammad Shihadah, AppTek

March 16, 2014
CineMart calls for project submissions for 43rd edition

CineMart calls for project submissions for 43rd edition

July 12, 2025
Ad 1
Du expands Disney+ partnership with one-year free access

Du expands Disney+ partnership with one-year free access

July 11, 2025
Dubai Studios hosts semi-final judging round of International Emmy Awards

Dubai Studios hosts semi-final judging round of International Emmy Awards

July 11, 2025
Du and Omantel activate Oman-Emirates Gateway subsea cable

Du and Omantel activate Oman-Emirates Gateway subsea cable

July 11, 2025
SES and Intelsat deal receives Federal clearance

SES and Intelsat deal receives Federal clearance

July 11, 2025
Red Sea Film Foundation-backed films to premiere at Locarno Film Festival

Red Sea Film Foundation-backed films to premiere at Locarno Film Festival

July 11, 2025
Du renews partnership with Huawei

Du renews partnership with Huawei

July 11, 2025
UAE entities seek director and exec producer from among People of Determination

Abu Dhabi’s CMA and Fingerprint Media sign deal to boost Arabic productions

July 11, 2025
Saudi Theatre and Performing Arts Commission to participate in Avignon Festival

Saudi Theatre and Performing Arts Commission to participate in Avignon Festival

July 11, 2025
Ericsson establishes new regional headquarters in Riyadh

Ericsson establishes new regional headquarters in Riyadh

July 10, 2025
Charlie Coleman joins Amazon MGM Studios as Head of International Marketing

Charlie Coleman joins Amazon MGM Studios as Head of International Marketing

July 10, 2025
Neo Space Group finalises UP42 acquisition from Airbus Defence and Space

Neo Space Group finalises UP42 acquisition from Airbus Defence and Space

July 10, 2025
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Magazine Archive
  • Directory
  • Contact
Sunday, July 13, 2025
  • Login
BroadcastPro ME
  • News
    • All
    • Analyst Reports
    • AV
    • Cinema Theatres
    • Esports
    • Film partnerships
    • International News
    • Mergers/Acquisitions
    • New appointments
    • OTT/Video Streaming
    • Podcasting
    • Production
    • Satellite/Comms
    • TV/Radio Deals
    CineMart calls for project submissions for 43rd edition

    CineMart calls for project submissions for 43rd edition

    Du expands Disney+ partnership with one-year free access

    Du expands Disney+ partnership with one-year free access

    Dubai Studios hosts semi-final judging round of International Emmy Awards

    Dubai Studios hosts semi-final judging round of International Emmy Awards

    Du and Omantel activate Oman-Emirates Gateway subsea cable

    Du and Omantel activate Oman-Emirates Gateway subsea cable

    SES and Intelsat deal receives Federal clearance

    SES and Intelsat deal receives Federal clearance

    Red Sea Film Foundation-backed films to premiere at Locarno Film Festival

    Red Sea Film Foundation-backed films to premiere at Locarno Film Festival

    Du renews partnership with Huawei

    Du renews partnership with Huawei

    UAE entities seek director and exec producer from among People of Determination

    Abu Dhabi’s CMA and Fingerprint Media sign deal to boost Arabic productions

    Saudi Theatre and Performing Arts Commission to participate in Avignon Festival

    Saudi Theatre and Performing Arts Commission to participate in Avignon Festival

    Ericsson establishes new regional headquarters in Riyadh

    Ericsson establishes new regional headquarters in Riyadh

    Trending Tags

    • broadcast
    • MENA broadcast
    • ConnecTech2019
  • Tech Features
    • All
    • CASE STUDIES
    • New Media
    • REVIEWS
    • TV/Radio Deals
    • Updates from FOMEX
    • Virtual Production Series
    Breaking free from the hardware cycle: Cloud collaboration in post-production

    Breaking free from the hardware cycle: Cloud collaboration in post-production

    Playing to win

    Playing to win

    The expanding role of AI in broadcast

    The expanding role of AI in broadcast

    The power of podcasts and audio streaming in MENA

    The power of podcasts and audio streaming in MENA

    Tech strategies for an evolving modern MENA media ecosystem

    Tech strategies for an evolving modern MENA media ecosystem

    SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part II

    SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part IV

    SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part I

    SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part III

    SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part II

    SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part II

    SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part I

    SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part I

    Transforming the entertainment experience with tech

    Transforming the entertainment experience with tech

    Trending Tags

    • Videos
      FOR-A’s award-winning HVS-Q12: A quantum leap in switcher design

      FOR-A’s award-winning HVS-Q12: A quantum leap in switcher design

      Ignacio Gonzalez-Nuñez on Eutelsat’s new offering and market leadership

      Ignacio Gonzalez-Nuñez on Eutelsat’s new offering and market leadership

      Francesco Cataldo on iKO Media Group’s CABSAT showcase and broadcast trends

      Francesco Cataldo on iKO Media Group’s CABSAT showcase and broadcast trends

      Deepraj Sandhar on Ross Video’s Middle East growth and broadcast tech trends

      Deepraj Sandhar on Ross Video’s Middle East growth and broadcast tech trends

      Reema Omari

      Reema Omari on Universal Satcom’s growth and connectivity solutions

      Mustafa Afifi

      Mustafa Afifi of Rivada Space on Outernet’s impact in the Middle East

      Don

      ST Engineering iDirect CEO Don Claussen on Mideast ties and satellite strategy

      KSASummit

      Transforming Arabic Content: Studios, Producers and Regional Impact

      Bringing Real-Time Audience Insights to Linear Broadcast TV – A First and Exclusive

      Bringing Real-Time Audience Insights to Linear Broadcast TV – A First and Exclusive

    • Opinion
      Survival of the Smartest: Cloud Playout as a Strategic Weapon

      Survival of the Smartest: Cloud Playout as a Strategic Weapon

      Bridging the Latency Gap with Broadcast in a Streaming World

      Bridging the Latency Gap with Broadcast in a Streaming World

      YouTube in Ramadan: The silent giant

      YouTube in Ramadan: The silent giant

      Evision’s transformation proves that business acumen and passion drive success

      Sport’s Growing Grip on MENA Media

      MEASA’s media and communications innovations set new benchmarks beyond regional boundaries

      MEASA’s media and communications innovations set new benchmarks beyond regional boundaries

      Integrate ME 2023 brings its inaugural edition to successful conclusion

      Empowering the next generation of content creation and live broadcasting with AV PRO

      Decoding the Ramadan Drama Phenomenon: What Makes a Winner?

      Decoding the Ramadan Drama Phenomenon: What Makes a Winner?

      Reviving cultural identity through native storytelling in Abu Dhabi

      Reviving cultural identity through native storytelling in Abu Dhabi

      Why it’s game on for broadcasters of live sport

      Why it’s game on for broadcasters of live sport

      Evision’s transformation proves that business acumen and passion drive success

      Saudi Arabia emerges as the epicentre of Media & Entertainment in 2025

    • Interviews
      • All
      • Lounge
      Sand, sweat and high stakes

      Sand, sweat and high stakes

      All eyes on AIUIa

      All eyes on AIUIa

      Grass Valley scales up with software and IP workflows

      Grass Valley scales up with software and IP workflows

      Breaking barriers, building futures: The new face of IABM

      Breaking barriers, building futures: The new face of IABM

      New Leadership, Same Strategy, Sharpened Focus

      New Leadership, Same Strategy, Sharpened Focus

      Creating Captain Shedeed: A superhero with Arab roots

      Creating Captain Shedeed: A superhero with Arab roots

      UAE Pro League flips the field

      UAE Pro League flips the field

      Bringing the wild to the Middle East

      Bringing the wild to the Middle East

      Shades of success

      Shades of success

      Navigating the news wave

      Navigating the news wave

    • Products
    • Magazine Archive
      • BroadcastPro ME Magazine
      • PRO Directory
    • Events
      • News from Events
      • Upcoming Events
      DICM

      DICM

      IBC Show

      IBC 2025

      MPTS

      CABSAT2025

      CABSAT2025

      NAB Show

    No Result
    View All Result
    BroadcastPro ME
    • News
      • All
      • Analyst Reports
      • AV
      • Cinema Theatres
      • Esports
      • Film partnerships
      • International News
      • Mergers/Acquisitions
      • New appointments
      • OTT/Video Streaming
      • Podcasting
      • Production
      • Satellite/Comms
      • TV/Radio Deals
      CineMart calls for project submissions for 43rd edition

      CineMart calls for project submissions for 43rd edition

      Du expands Disney+ partnership with one-year free access

      Du expands Disney+ partnership with one-year free access

      Dubai Studios hosts semi-final judging round of International Emmy Awards

      Dubai Studios hosts semi-final judging round of International Emmy Awards

      Du and Omantel activate Oman-Emirates Gateway subsea cable

      Du and Omantel activate Oman-Emirates Gateway subsea cable

      SES and Intelsat deal receives Federal clearance

      SES and Intelsat deal receives Federal clearance

      Red Sea Film Foundation-backed films to premiere at Locarno Film Festival

      Red Sea Film Foundation-backed films to premiere at Locarno Film Festival

      Du renews partnership with Huawei

      Du renews partnership with Huawei

      UAE entities seek director and exec producer from among People of Determination

      Abu Dhabi’s CMA and Fingerprint Media sign deal to boost Arabic productions

      Saudi Theatre and Performing Arts Commission to participate in Avignon Festival

      Saudi Theatre and Performing Arts Commission to participate in Avignon Festival

      Ericsson establishes new regional headquarters in Riyadh

      Ericsson establishes new regional headquarters in Riyadh

      Trending Tags

      • broadcast
      • MENA broadcast
      • ConnecTech2019
    • Tech Features
      • All
      • CASE STUDIES
      • New Media
      • REVIEWS
      • TV/Radio Deals
      • Updates from FOMEX
      • Virtual Production Series
      Breaking free from the hardware cycle: Cloud collaboration in post-production

      Breaking free from the hardware cycle: Cloud collaboration in post-production

      Playing to win

      Playing to win

      The expanding role of AI in broadcast

      The expanding role of AI in broadcast

      The power of podcasts and audio streaming in MENA

      The power of podcasts and audio streaming in MENA

      Tech strategies for an evolving modern MENA media ecosystem

      Tech strategies for an evolving modern MENA media ecosystem

      SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part II

      SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part IV

      SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part I

      SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part III

      SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part II

      SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part II

      SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part I

      SMF and FOMEX bring top industry leaders together in Riyadh – Part I

      Transforming the entertainment experience with tech

      Transforming the entertainment experience with tech

      Trending Tags

      • Videos
        FOR-A’s award-winning HVS-Q12: A quantum leap in switcher design

        FOR-A’s award-winning HVS-Q12: A quantum leap in switcher design

        Ignacio Gonzalez-Nuñez on Eutelsat’s new offering and market leadership

        Ignacio Gonzalez-Nuñez on Eutelsat’s new offering and market leadership

        Francesco Cataldo on iKO Media Group’s CABSAT showcase and broadcast trends

        Francesco Cataldo on iKO Media Group’s CABSAT showcase and broadcast trends

        Deepraj Sandhar on Ross Video’s Middle East growth and broadcast tech trends

        Deepraj Sandhar on Ross Video’s Middle East growth and broadcast tech trends

        Reema Omari

        Reema Omari on Universal Satcom’s growth and connectivity solutions

        Mustafa Afifi

        Mustafa Afifi of Rivada Space on Outernet’s impact in the Middle East

        Don

        ST Engineering iDirect CEO Don Claussen on Mideast ties and satellite strategy

        KSASummit

        Transforming Arabic Content: Studios, Producers and Regional Impact

        Bringing Real-Time Audience Insights to Linear Broadcast TV – A First and Exclusive

        Bringing Real-Time Audience Insights to Linear Broadcast TV – A First and Exclusive

      • Opinion
        Survival of the Smartest: Cloud Playout as a Strategic Weapon

        Survival of the Smartest: Cloud Playout as a Strategic Weapon

        Bridging the Latency Gap with Broadcast in a Streaming World

        Bridging the Latency Gap with Broadcast in a Streaming World

        YouTube in Ramadan: The silent giant

        YouTube in Ramadan: The silent giant

        Evision’s transformation proves that business acumen and passion drive success

        Sport’s Growing Grip on MENA Media

        MEASA’s media and communications innovations set new benchmarks beyond regional boundaries

        MEASA’s media and communications innovations set new benchmarks beyond regional boundaries

        Integrate ME 2023 brings its inaugural edition to successful conclusion

        Empowering the next generation of content creation and live broadcasting with AV PRO

        Decoding the Ramadan Drama Phenomenon: What Makes a Winner?

        Decoding the Ramadan Drama Phenomenon: What Makes a Winner?

        Reviving cultural identity through native storytelling in Abu Dhabi

        Reviving cultural identity through native storytelling in Abu Dhabi

        Why it’s game on for broadcasters of live sport

        Why it’s game on for broadcasters of live sport

        Evision’s transformation proves that business acumen and passion drive success

        Saudi Arabia emerges as the epicentre of Media & Entertainment in 2025

      • Interviews
        • All
        • Lounge
        Sand, sweat and high stakes

        Sand, sweat and high stakes

        All eyes on AIUIa

        All eyes on AIUIa

        Grass Valley scales up with software and IP workflows

        Grass Valley scales up with software and IP workflows

        Breaking barriers, building futures: The new face of IABM

        Breaking barriers, building futures: The new face of IABM

        New Leadership, Same Strategy, Sharpened Focus

        New Leadership, Same Strategy, Sharpened Focus

        Creating Captain Shedeed: A superhero with Arab roots

        Creating Captain Shedeed: A superhero with Arab roots

        UAE Pro League flips the field

        UAE Pro League flips the field

        Bringing the wild to the Middle East

        Bringing the wild to the Middle East

        Shades of success

        Shades of success

        Navigating the news wave

        Navigating the news wave

      • Products
      • Magazine Archive
        • BroadcastPro ME Magazine
        • PRO Directory
      • Events
        • News from Events
        • Upcoming Events
        DICM

        DICM

        IBC Show

        IBC 2025

        MPTS

        CABSAT2025

        CABSAT2025

        NAB Show

      No Result
      View All Result
      BroadcastPro ME
      No Result
      View All Result
      AMT Ad ibc Ad
      Home Interviews

      Mohammad Shihadah, AppTek

      Vijaya Cherian by Vijaya Cherian
      March 16, 2014
      in Interviews
      ShareTweetPostEmail

      Mohammad Shihadah is the founder of AppTek, a US-based firm that has been developing human language technologies for the last 24 years. In an exclusive interview with Vijaya Cherian, Shihadah talks about how this technology will add value to the television business and why Middle East broadcasters will benefit from it   We don’t see […]

      Mohammad Shihadah is the founder of AppTek, a US-based firm that has been developing human language technologies for the last 24 years. In an exclusive interview with Vijaya Cherian, Shihadah talks about how this technology will add value to the television business and why Middle East broadcasters will benefit from it

       

      We don’t see many solutions around human language technology such as speech recognition and audio fingerprinting in this market. Could you shed some light on this topic?

      Mohammad Shihadah Co-CEO, AppTek.

      Sure. Human language is a vast and complex subject and the technologies that are being researched and developed to understand it better are just as complicated and constantly being evolved. We have been working on this technology for the last 24 years. But to simplify it, one of the areas within this is speech recognition, which is used in multiple ways for telephony that is primarily for interactive voice response system, telephony intercepts and so on. Then there is speech recognition for dictation that is used in several vertical markets such as healthcare and government projects. Then there are embedded speech recognition apps like Siri, where you talk to your car, radio and so on.

      Within broadcast, what you are primarily looking at is machine translation (MT) for TV, where you recognise the language in which the programme is broadcast and translate that audio and also, convert it to text.

      How does machine translation work?

      MT is primarily about translating from the source language to the target language. Historically, experts have followed the lexical approach for translations, where the technology analyses the language based on semantics, syntax, lexicons, morphology and translates it.

      In the late 1990s, we started using the statistical approach, where we fed the source and target languages into the computer and trained it to translate intelligently. Google uses this method but it’s not fool-proof.

      We now have a patent for a hybrid method of machine translation, which uses both the rule-based system as well as statistical translation. It improves the translation substantially and breaks it into categories providing more information and greater fluency. Hybrid technology offers you the best of both worlds.

      Where have you used your technology so far?

      We have implemented this in several areas but mainly for government use.

      We are now looking to commercialise this for media entities. There are multiple ways in which this can be used by broadcasters.

      Media monitoring is one of them. The capability to automatically ingest tens of thousands of channels and use automatic speech recognition (ASR) to generate the text in the source language and then translate that to the target language opens up huge possibilities.

      Once you have the source language, the translated language as well as the transcript for say, a news story or a speech, you can populate that into a search engine and it will show up. So, for instance, if you type in Obama, it will show you every programme and every channel, on which that name was uttered down to the second when it appeared on the channel, whether it was on a Chinese channel, an Arabic channel or an English channel. That kind of media monitoring can be extended across languages and multiple platforms including TV, web, social media, newspapers and magazines.

      The second way in which this technology can be used is for closed captioning or subtitling. How do you create a closed caption solution automatically as an anchor speaks or a broadcast is going on? Our technology is able to generate and type the text within five to six seconds from the speaker uttering those words. This is speaker independent. The accuracy associated with that text at the moment is more than 85%. If we have the chance to adapt the system and train it a little bit on the profile of the speaker, we will be able to reach 95% accuracy in that speech.

      We did this with Al Arabiya channel, where we created automatic closed captioning, which you can also view on their web site www.alarabiya.net.

      If you watch the Arabic programmes, you can see English subtitles that are auto generated and there is a transcript as well. This is an evolving technology; it has been used in TV for a long time. But in recent years, this has become more technology-based and, therefore, there is greater consistency and the turnaround time is faster. We are able to finish a news bulletin in 15 minutes now.

      People say they want to access their content anywhere and when they want it. Actually, if they receive content anywhere, anytime along with the ability to hear it in a language that they understand, that opens up a lot of possibilities for broadcasters to reach new markets.

      We can achieve this with the help of technology. For instance, if I’m in Italy and I’m an Arab and I want to watch something on TV, I am lost because it is in Italian. If I have an app on my mobile that allows me to hear it in Arabic, imagine how different the situation will be.

      Technology is a great enabler, and this is a great example of that. Essentially, you are talking about creating multi-lingual media based on a user’s requirement.

      I guess the next question has to be about metadata then?

      Yes. US law makes closed captioning mandatory. A lot of the data, therefore, comes with text and so, when you enter a subject, you are able to find where it is mentioned. Closed captioning doesn’t exist in most other places. So you end up with some metadata that just gives you a brief about what was said. For instance, you may see a live interview with a dignitary in Egypt but no text to show what he said because it is a live interview and there is no law with regards to closed captioning. Our technology takes that interview, generates the text and indexes it so anything that was said in that interview becomes rich metadata, which you can search. I attended some of the Arabic TV conferences here. They lack the capability to generate a fully annotated Arabic video with its text in order to be searchable.

      Closed captioning just doesn’t exist. Go to any of the web sites of the major broadcasters in the Arab world. They do not have the text of what they speak 24/7, although they do generate the text for some programmes, if there is a specific requirement for it.

      But imagine if you have 24/7 closed captioning where everything on the channel can be translated as well as read in a language that you understand?

      There is, for instance, a wealth of audio lying wasted on tapes here, in this region, with just a brief metadata if you are lucky. So there might be precious information on those tapes but who knows about it. The goal is to create rich metadata that makes content accessible.

      Content is king but if people can’t access that content because no one knows in which tape it is stored, it’s not very helpful. Arab broadcasters have hundreds of hours of audio tape here but have no idea what’s in it. That brings us to the third most important use of this solution — digitisation and metadata creation.

      It’s important to convert the content on those audio tapes into digital files. Once that is done, we can convert that content automatically into text so that every word spoken on that tape can be fully accessible.

      But you are not involved in the digitisation process, are you?

      No. That’s why we have partnered with Integracast MENA, which is a CMS affiliate in Dubai. They will undertake such projects here and provide the digitisation. Our technology primarily helps identify languages, translate them intelligently into the target language and create rich metadata around it.

      Another instance of this is the work we do with a major studio in the US. They have several tapes that have videos in different languages. The person who looks at those tapes may not be able to identify whether the video is in Czech or Spanish. The technology takes care of automatic language identification to avoid people making such errors.

      Are you bringing this to CABSAT?

      Yes, the solution for this region is branded as IQURIOUS and is being done in partnership with Integracast and AppTek. It has several modules. One module has been used with Al Arabiya, as I mentioned before, to translate and transcribe. We also work with a major media entity in Abu Dhabi on media monitoring.

      You mentioned the ability to extend this technology to other devices?

      That’s right. We are working on some second screen concepts but they are still in the development stage.

      80% of the people in the US presently use the second screen while they are watching TV. We have developed a system called Tivvy, which is second-screen TV.

      Tivvy works on the principle of audio and video fingerprinting. If you point your iPhone to a channel on your TV, it takes a fingerprint of that audio and video and tells you which channel you are watching, whether it is Fox, Al Jazeera or something else.

      Essentially, it uses video and audio recognition. The technology recognises the pixels and the contours to generate information for the user. We can also link it to e-commerce and social media.

      That can further be extended to give you details about the actor, which in turn, can be connected with an e-commerce web site that allows you to buy the same glasses or T-shirt that a particular actor is wearing.

      This is the new direction the media business will take because it will help you to share clips immediately with your social media friends and participate in an immediate poll. The purpose is to create a shared TV environment and enhance the user experience.

      Tags: AppTekCMSIntegraCastIQURIOUS

      Related Posts

      CMS partners with AccuWeather and NetApp

      CMS partners with AccuWeather and NetApp

      March 7, 2013

      Related News

      CMS partners with AccuWeather and NetApp

      CMS partners with AccuWeather and NetApp

      March 7, 2013
      More Related News

      BroadcastPro ME

      • About
      • Advertise
      • Subscribe
      • Magazine Archive
      • Directory
      • Contact
      • Privacy

      Follow us on Social Media

      No Result
      View All Result
      • News
      • Tech Features
      • Videos
      • Opinion
      • Interviews
      • Products
      • Magazine Archive
        • BroadcastPro ME Magazine
        • PRO Directory
      • Events

      Welcome Back!

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password?

      Create New Account!

      Fill the forms bellow to register

      All fields are required. Log In

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In