Gearing up for IBC

I was going to write an editorial about how the MENA pay-TV drama scene is unfolding before our eyes in slow motion, but Karim Sarkis has written such an impressive analytical piece on it on page 96 that I thought it would be a crime to dwell any further on it.

Instead, let me draw your attention to some of the other players who have been standing on the periphery thus far and are now slowly moving to centre stage, as the strategies they are implementing are having a significant impact on pay TV in the region.

This time, therefore, we have covered two players who have had a significant role in raising the profile of pay TV by moving some of their coveted channels out of the free-to-air spectrum.

You have Fox, which moved Fox and Fox Movies exclusively to beIN and made some of their other channels available across a number of pay platforms. Then you have Discovery, whose popular Fatafeat channel is now a proud addition to the beIN portfolio along with some others that have recently joined the network. Their justification is reasonable. Trying to fill your bucket from a drying well of ad sales is not just a lot of hard work but unrewarding as well.

Pay at least guarantees monthly revenues, and this in turn helps the channels to invest more in their content. Fox’s bold strategy has helped it step out into the sunshine and breathe again, but this is also a telling comment that those who have been relying entirely on FTA ad sales will have to revisit their strategies if they want to increase their revenue.

We hear MBC is getting ready for a major rollout soon. In the meantime, if you thought we live in the backwoods, think again. We already have 4K streaming in the region with Starz Play, and OSN is gearing up for a 4K rollout as well.

Our IBC issue, as usual, is packed with so many exclusive stories, all the way from news to regional case studies and interviews. I won’t divulge more. We’ll be in Amsterdam in full force. See you there!