Qvest Media has completed its delivery and implementation of all production, broadcast and distribution facilities for the Arab regions latest breaking-news channel, Alarab. Due to go live later this year, Alarab will deliver a completely fresh style of presenting news from around the world that matters most to those living and working in the Middle […]
Qvest Media has completed its delivery and implementation of all production, broadcast and distribution facilities for the Arab regions latest breaking-news channel, Alarab.
Due to go live later this year, Alarab will deliver a completely fresh style of
presenting news from around the world that matters most to those living and
working in the Middle East and North Africa. Based in Bahrains capital,
Manama, the all-Arabic channel will include extensive news programming as well
as regular news roundups and business information in association with
Bloomberg.
Qvest Media managed all aspects of the project including design, planning and
technical integration. The scope includes two studios with affiliated control
rooms as well as the latest technologies for monitoring, video and graphics
editing and editorial processes.
The project is one of the most advanced Qvest Media has delivered and will help
Alarab deliver on its promise of creating a fresh style of programming for a
new generation of viewers. End-to-end file-based workflows, a high level of
automation for all production processes, a centralised media asset management
system across all areas of production, as well as HDTV distribution for
satellite, multi-platform live streaming and an IPTV solution are just a few of
the key features that Qvest Media has planned and integrated.
We want to change the way people think about news broadcasting, said Jamal Khashoggi, General Manager Alarab TV.
A fundamental part of that is our delivery infrastructure and the solution delivered by Qvest Media will be a key part in our success.
We provide a highly future-oriented media infrastructure to Alarab for
seamless management between all fields of news production, added Peter
Noethen, Managing Director of Qvest Media. We take into account the most
modern forms for IP-based content aggregation and multiple ways for
broadcasting such as satellite and online. This helps Alarab to maximise the
efficiency of news production and distribution.
The solution features products and systems from renowned international
manufacturers. For example, the latest generation of scalable Avid ISIS 7500,
Avid Interplay media asset management and iNews is installed for file-based production purposes and deeply integrated with a redundant central storage system from EMC². Real-time 3D graphics rendering and channel branding will be performed
using the latest solutions from Vizrt.
The Alarab installation will be the first Viz Mosart installation which interlaces directly with Avid Interplay.
Viz Mosart newsroom automation will cover the channel’s two studios. The larger
studio will be used for 24-hours rolling news live broadcast, and the Viz
Mosart studio automation will control equipment from Sony, Calrec, Avid, Vinten
Radamec Robotics and Vizrt graphics, among others using preconfigured
templates. In addition, a Viz Mosart system will integrate closely with Avid
iNews as well as with the LSB Virtual Studio Management (VSM) switching and
management system.
The second studio will be used to produce news features and packages to insert
into the rolling news output, where Viz Mosart will interlace with the Avid
Airspeed 5000 editing environment and Vizrt graphics.
Never.No will be used for the stations social media output. With the integration between Vizrt and Never.No, Alarab will have the tools to embrace user-generated social content and integrate it easily, flexibly and seamlessly within Vizrt graphics and multiplatform distribution workflows. To preview, moderate and configure all incoming data feeds, an Astucemedia Data Platform will be used. It will work with the Vizrt
graphics system to provide producers and template editors with a graphical way to
browse and select data content, preview stock charts, monitor and approve
social media feeds.
Operators, technical and editorial staff of Alarab are currently undergoing the
final stage of training delivered by Qvest Media experts. The channel is scheduled
to begin broadcasting in Q4 2014.
