Communicate, connect and converge at CABSAT 2013

Trade platform for the broadcast, digital media and satellite sectors across the Middle East, Africa and Southern Asian regions, CABSAT 2013 will take place from March 12-14 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Here’s a glimpse of what the broadcast conference which takes place on March 12 and 13 has to offer.

DAY 1: 12 MARCH 2013, TUESDAY

1400-1430 German Case Study: Transitioning from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting

The wonders of digital television have been heralded for more than two decades. Broadcast and production companies can now take advantage of digital compression that allows more channels to be transmitted with better image quality and improved interactive applications. The switch off of the analogue signal could result in a large increase in the supply of television channels available to viewers and/or bandwidth being freed up for other uses.

Politicians and policy makers claim that this will gain spectrum that will be sold to mobile broadband companies. Announcements to this effect have already been made in the UAE, and this policy is likely to be GCC- and region-wide.

However, the Content Production Industry is set to suffer as the density in the remaining spectrum rises and with it the risk of interference. The higher density of users in the remaining spectrum needs appropriate frequency planning to ensure interference free productions. This session reports about the experiences made in Germany where the switchover has already been completed and will cover:

• Current and future solutions

• Spectrum requirements for daily use and large productions

• Growth of the application

1450-1520 Utilising ‘data centric’ storage technologies to simplify and speed up workflows

Video, Web 2.0 and analytics, all considered ‘big data’, have unique data storage requirements.  The convergence of these data types in creative workflows creates unique challenges during planning and implementation. This session will share real-world scenarios to help plan for, and implement, storage ecosystems that not only coexist with one another, but interoperate in a wide variety of workflows.  Case studies on how the most current storage and data management technologies simplify and speed up workflows will be shared, including how to maximize efficiencies out of the storage you have today, and how to plan for the future when capacity and performance requirements continue to increase.

From small Post Production workflows to large broadcast integrations, don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to utilize data management to your advantage.

• When and where is SSD and Flash best utilized to take full advantage of a new, relatively expensive storage medium

• Using SAN’s to meet 2K and 4K performance requirements

• Archiving using 0-watt disks

1540-1610 Nonlinear sports production for a multi-screen world

The concept of Nonlinear Production (combining production, post-production, and distribution onto a single, unified platform) is new. Of all of the broadcasting market segments, live sports production — with its terrestrial, cable, satellite, Internet and mobile distribution channels — is poised to benefit the most from a Nonlinear Production platform. This session will discuss how this new workflow provides live sports producers the flexibility to create more, richer content and distribute it across multiple platforms This session is invaluable for those who are finding today’s traditional workflows limiting with regard to how content is delivered to audiences faster and more efficiently than ever before through file-based workflow solutions. It will also explore why the key to successful Nonlinear Production is to abstract the complex technology from the Production team by providing easy to use, task based user interfaces to select and enrich the content in a live environment.

• Combining production, post-production, and distribution onto a single, unified platform to bring new efficiencies to sports production

• Integrating multiple distribution streams and multiple within traditional sports production formats to leverage content

1610-1640 Gearing up for Qatar World Cup 2022: What did broadcasters learn from London 2012?

Big sporting events have traditionally been the catalyst for change in broadcasting – from the advent of colour TV to the introduction of HD. Not an exception, London 2012 is currently billed as the “Digital Olympics” with more than 20 sports simultaneously broadcasted in SD, HD and 3D via traditional, interactive and OTT outlets. What lessons can Qatar learn from this for its moment in the global spotlight?

This session will discuss new industry standards and new methods to minimise the impact of increased throughput requirements due to the rollout of Ultra HD 4K & 8K, the importance of interference counter measures and how much these interference can cost, and the importance of multiservice platforms that can support new broadcast workflows and efficiency improvements in broadcast networks.

DAY 2: 13 MARCH 2013, TUESDAY

1130-1200 Leveraging the cloud: Achieving a seamless flow of content by using public, private, and hybrid cloud infrastructures

In the broadcast, studio and entertainment industries consumer need is a clear driver for cloud adoption. As viewing habits change constantly, and delivery methods having to constantly maintain the pace, more broadcasters are seriously looking at the value of cloud-based services. This session tackles head-on the issues of security, bandwidth, storage technology, and cost of moving to the cloud, and will provide attendees with successful real-life examples. This session also will focus on standards compliance for content solutions — critical to the delivery of any modern solution — so as to ensure that the solution provided is founded within industry-accepted de facto and publicly defined standards, and that it will be capable of supporting multiple content-monetization cycles and associated technologies over an extended time period.

• Unique insight into the assembly of an integrated workflow

• Solutions addressing security and bandwidth concerns

• Industry solutions that are standards-compliant

1400-1430 Reaching new audiences in Africa: How satellite technology can help accelerate digital connectivity in the region

Of the 82 million homes in Africa, only 7% have access to digital TV. And as younger generations demand more channels, more technology and more digital connectivity, this number is expected to grow significantly and TV delivered by satellite, and free-to-air (FTA) in particular, is poised for rapid escalation.

The ITU has set June 2015 as the deadline for global digital migration and most African countries are not expected to meet this deadline. One of the main challenges of digital migration is that digital terrestrial television (DTT) cannot provide the required reach and bandwidth on its own.

For digital migration to be a success in the continent, satellite needs to be used as an enabling partner to fibre. Satellite can feed and complement DTT roll-out if network architecture is aligned, and digital terrestrial coverage in combination with satellite can notably reduce infrastructure investment and costs, making hybrid technology a logical next step.

In this session, SES will talk about the work they’ve been doing with broadcasters and manufacturers to maximise television take-up via satellite. They will also share what they’re doing to overcome the challenges of high costs and remote terrain.

• How can satellite assist in developing a free-to-air broadcast market in Africa?

• How can satellite complement existing technologies and deliver that last mile connectivity?

• How can satellite help connect the 700 million people in Africa and support the continent in meeting the ITU’s digital migration deadline of June 2015?

1450-1520 Maximising your system flexibility and operational simplicity to reduce costs and on-air errors

Protecting and maximising investments in broadcast hardware, along with optimizing operational workflows are key concerns of any broadcast facility. This session is tailored for Broadcast Engineering Managers, System Integrators, and Production staff, and will highlight the challenges of modern system design and integration, and will illustrate how a single ‘umbrella’ control system can bring huge benefits to both engineers and operational staff .

• Understanding the importance and need of a unified system control

• The importance of system Integration on a control level

• Handling centralised and shared resources: Virtualisation of system wide signals and devices

• Incorporating modern touchscreen user GUIs into Production environments to reduce dedicated hardware and provide flexibility to operations and function

1520-1550 New ways to monetise content: What will the future of TV look like and why is OTT a game changer?

The way entertainment is consumed is changing rapidly. OTT opens up a completely new way for content owners to increase distribution, reach and revenues from video on demand (VOD), catch-up TV and interactive applications. But accessing a new kind of personalized entertainment experience content – via a multiplicity of devices – presents a real challenge and a major shift in the media industry.

Aimed at broadcasters, content owners and advertising agencies, this session presents a case study of an innovative OTT delivery of TV content  to UK digital-terrestrial platform (Freeview) glossing over Mheg. It will also discuss how old fashioned digital terrestrial platforms glossing over Mheg can be adapted for other platforms, the compatibility of the new devices the complexity of the technology, and most importantly the opportunities to adapt in other markets.

1610-1640 Securing your content distribution and eliminating revenue threats

Secure content distribution over the combined scenario of broadcast, broadband and connected devices introduces a new and highly complex scenario, and operators face

the biggest set of security challenges of any players in the content value chain.

Protecting your content and your revenue is more than just protecting your conditional access. It also means protecting the weakest link of the distribution chain: consumer devices. The presentation will give a good and understandable overview of the challenges any operator faces in order to secure their revenue in the complex modern distribution environment. It will also educate operators on the possibility of giving consumer devices a security rating and what this means.