Al Ghad Al Arabi, a UK-based Arabic-language TV station that has been broadcasting from London since 2013, recently established a new channel in Egypt. Vibhuti Arora takes a tour of the new facility and brings us exclusive details Al Ghad Al Arabi is a 24-hour free-to-air news channel that started broadcasting from London in 2013 […]
Al Ghad Al Arabi, a UK-based Arabic-language TV station that has been broadcasting from London since 2013, recently established a new channel in Egypt. Vibhuti Arora takes a tour of the new facility and brings us exclusive details
Al Ghad Al Arabi is a 24-hour free-to-air news channel that started broadcasting from London in 2013 with plans to set up studios and production facilities in Cairo and Beirut in subsequent years. Last month, the Arabic-language TV channel opened its newly kitted-out Cairo facility. The Cairo station was set up with the objective of adding more regional content and live programming to the news channels roster of programmes. Work on the Beirut station is expected to begin soon.
The Cairo facility, boasting two studios and master control transmission, has been integrated by AV Solutions, a Dubai-based systems integrator with offices in Iraq and Egypt. The contract to build the TV station in Cairo was awarded to AV Solutions in September 2014. The SI was mandated to supply the equipment, install it and manage the project and its delivery in a studio space at EMPC (Egyptian Media Production City) that was rented out to Al Ghad Al Arabi.
Commenting on the project, Zaid Wattar, Managing Director of AV Solutions, explains that the Egyptian centre is to operate as a second channel of Al Ghad Al Arabi, after London.
The facility was built from scratch, with some equipment supplied by EMPC as mandatory rental equipment along with the studios. The existing equipment, comprising Grass Valley cameras and some control room equipment, has been integrated with the new systems.
AV Solutions has been involved in several broadcast projects in Egypt, which was the reason the SI established a base in Cairo last December and was chosen for this job.
Al Ghad Al Arabi was looking for a partner who could supply and install software broadcast technologies. We have already delivered several projects in Egypt, so we were asked to take on this project, claims Wattar, who adds that AV Solutions has a team of certified Avid and Vizrt engineers.
Since Avid and Vizrt solutions are at the core of the channels news and graphics workflow in the London studio, AV Solutions, with its experience and team, became a strong contender to integrate the Cairo facility.
We were involved right from the supply, installation, project management and delivery. Training services have been implemented on-site by the vendors teams. We will also provide after-sales support and service level agreement, for the systems installed, says Wattar.
Built with a budget of more than $3m, the Cairo studios will be used to broadcast the second news channel of Al Ghad Al Arabi TV, with more focus on Egypt. The studios will also be used for some programmes broadcast by the London channel.
The Cairo facility boasts a main studio and a secondary remote studio 1km apart, connected through a fibre optical solution that is capable of transporting uncompressed video signals and reliable high-speed 10Gbps IP data, as well as handling IP intercom communications. In addition, AV Solutions also deployed an advanced IP-based intercom system from RTS to connect the Cairo and London studios with centralised communications capabilities.
The TV channels main studio houses six Grass Valley cameras, while the second studio is equipped with three Sony cameras and a Vizrt virtual studio set. The main and secondary studios also have a Sony MVS-6530 and MVS-3000 vision mixer.
In addition, there are playout servers, automation, master control, router and core processing units from Imagine Communications. The news production and news playout are from Avid, and the on-air graphics for studios and MCR have been supplied by Vizrt. Both studios offer full modular expansion-proof capability for the future, including video servers, Avid system, Vizrt graphics, routing and intercom.
The key highlights of this project, according to Wattar, are the Avid integration with Imagine playout servers and automation, and the Vizrt graphics’ integration with Avid iNews, connecting the remote studio with uncompressed 3G-SDI multi-video, data and video reference through fibre optics.
The Workflow
The station requires centralised archiving and collaboration, agility and ease of operational management, intelligently orchestrated workflows and operational integration to enable the broadcaster to quickly and easily share assets between stations. The Cairo station, therefore, has been built on a system that allows both London and Cairo to collaborate efficiently through the Avid Everywhere platform, which is the backbone of this installation.
Amro Elbouhy, Avid Territory Account Manager, says this is the first installation in Egypt based on our Avid Everywhere platform, which is building the infrastructure to serve seamless collaboration amongst editors and journalists.
It enables broadcasters to share content between locations on different continents, in this case between the UK and Egypt. This is a real Avid Everywhere success story, claims Elbouhy.
The station boasts iNEWS for news automation, Interplay|PAM to manage the media, ISIS|5500 for storage and MediaCentral|UX to collaborate across stations. These tools enable Al Ghad Al Arabi to centralise the media asset storage, access, search and metadata tagging. AirSpeed 5000 manages proper ingest, playout and control. With the help of Media Composer and NewsCutter licences, journalists are able to collaborate and edit their work together, as well as work with editors in multiple departments at the stations along with the needed services, support and training.
Avid ISIS-stored media can be shared with Imagine Communications’ Nexio Playout, managed by ADC Automation, and Nexio Motion media management for the near-line archive system. Imagine’s fully redundant server, automation and media management handles the direct-to-air video playout and is part of the MCR systems, which also include a fully redundant Imagine Platinum router with integrated Multiviewer processors as well as Imagine IconMaster as a master control switcher.
Media Central Platform in this installation allows the news channel to streamline and simplify its workflows by tightly integrating all products and services onto a single, open and customisable platform, providing the underlying media services, connectivity and orchestration capabilities to support the entire media value chain. The platform facilitates an open and extensible environment that integrates technology from Avid and other providers. Content creators and distributors can produce, manage, deliver and monetise media that adheres to a common set of standards regardless of the vendor and tools they choose to use at each step of the way.
Alongside news production and news playout from Avid, the station boasts on-air graphics for studios and MCR from Vizrt. According to RV Krishnan, Regional Manager at Vizrt Middle East, Al Ghad Al Arabi signed a deal with Vizrt to create a complete end-to-end production workflow in August 2014. The vendor undertook the integration and commissioning of the Vizrt systems.
The project included comprehensive design, installation and commissioning of the system and workflow, as well as training of the end users at Al Ghad Al Arabi TV. The system is built on Vizrts template-based workflow, designed to enable journalists, designers and operators to manage their work with ease and efficiency.
Yasser Youssef, Head of Technical Operations, Al Ghad Al Arabi TV, explains that the channels graphics playout is based on Viz Engine, which can also be used for the playback of video clips.
Vizrts news graphics will be used within the creative, studio and transmission areas of Al Ghad Al Arabi TV. Vizrts solution is well proven in news workflows, and we are already using this in our studios in London with great success. We are happy with the scalable architecture of the system, which allows us to expand the systems as we grow. The template-based workflow helps us to ensure brand consistency and gives us the ability to put news on air with speed and accuracy. We are happy with the excellent support that Vizrt has offered us during the entire process of pre-sales discussions, and the fact that they have installations and support available in Egypt, ensuring maximum utilisation of our investment.
The designers working with Viz Artist and Viz World are responsible for creating the branding and the on-air looks, which include graphics templates for the Al Ghad Al Arabi TV journalists to use. The journalists work on the Viz ActiveX newsroom component integrated with Avid iNEWS to select the graphic templates, add text, video, maps and images as required by the story, and publish the rundown for playout. The operators load the new rundown created by the journalists and play it out on air.
The workflow allows journalists, designers and operators to work within their domains of expertise, shifting the focus from process to content, increasing productivity and efficiency across the workflow chain. Before the transmission goes on air, the Viz Ticker is used to add the logo, on-screen tickers and additional channel branding. Viz Pilot is integrated with the Avid iNEWS NRCS, while Viz Pilot easily integrates into the editorial workflow as the templates (designed in Viz Artist) can be accessed by any major newsroom system.
The newsroom component is a small but advanced graphics editing tool that enables journalists to add images, text, videos and maps, and to select the graphics concept and variant. It also supports a real-time preview and snapshots. The MCR branding graphics are also handled by Vizrt and controlled by Imagine Automation.
Another system integrated smartly is the RTS ADAM-M redundant intercom matrix, which allows both IP and analogue audio interfacing for high flexibility. Video Signal Transport between the second virtual studio and the main station is handled by Nevion Technologies, and the data is transferred through Cisco high-end 10Gbps switches. Soundcraft digital audio mixers for both studios and video monitoring by Barco and Sony are also deployed at the Cairo facility.
The free-to-air channel employs more than 90 journalists, technicians and support staff in various bureaus worldwide, including the US, the UAE, Egypt and Palestine. Al Ghad TVs remit covers 24-hour Arabic language news and entertainment programmes from London. The channel will be available in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe via Nilesat and Hotbird.
While Al Ghad Al Arabi TV will have regional studios across the Arab world, its newsroom operations will be chiefly coordinated through the London, Cairo and, in the future, its Beirut station.
