GlobeCast and FRANCE 24 have announced they will expand their exploratory Hybrid Broadband Broadcast Television (HbbTV) service to the Middle East this year with the support of Orange and Arabsat. The service, to be offered to satellite viewers of FRANCE 24 in the Middle East, follows a European deployment begun earlier this year with SES. […]
GlobeCast and FRANCE 24 have announced they will expand their exploratory Hybrid Broadband Broadcast Television (HbbTV) service to the Middle East this year with the support of Orange and Arabsat.
The service, to be offered to satellite viewers of FRANCE 24 in the Middle East, follows a European deployment begun earlier this year with SES. The project will feature interactivity to satellite TV programming by harnessing the capability of connected TVs, allowing satellite TV viewers in the region to use their connected televisions to interact with FRANCE 24’s linear and non-linear content.
This service will be a test of HbbTV’s ability to enhance the quality of DTH users’ viewing experience. It should also provide insight towards building broadcast offers that combine the power and reliability of traditional broadcast delivery with the new possibilities offered by the latest content delivery networks (CDNs).
GlobeCast will use its broadcast experience and knowledge of connected TVs to lead this trial. It will also provide ground services and uplink from its Paris technical operations center. The satellite feed will be delivered via the BADR-4 satellite, Arabsat’s leading orbital position in the Middle East. Orange will use the CDN expertise of its Smart Networks Program to drive the broadband delivery of this service.
FRANCE 24s head of strategy, development and public affairs, Frank Melloul, said: “HbbTV is one technology which appears to be a promising way to raise the bar for our viewers. Expanding our experiment to a second region, the Middle East, means that we’ll have a reliable test to measure the benefits of HbbTV on a global level.”
Philippe Rouxel, chief marketing officer of GlobeCast, said, “It’s our pleasure to work with FRANCE 24 to take its content further, in every sense of the word. We have a long-standing relationship with Arabsat and our parent company Orange who are the ideal partners to help us bring the convenience of connected television to Middle Eastern viewers.”
President and CEO of ARABSAT, Khalid Balkheyour, said, “We fully support FRANCE 24 and GlobeCast in introducing this new broadcast technology to the region and wish them the very best of success.”