Tags: Cartoon Network, CSI, Desperate Housewives, Discovery World, Disney, DreamWorks, Dubai, France Telecom, GlobeCast, London, Lost, Middle East, NBC Universal, North Africa, Paramount, Prison Break, Showtime Arabia, showtimearabia.com, Sony Columbia, Ugly Betty, VH1
GlobeCast to provide pay TV network Showtime Arabia with a range of services including both transport and playout
London, 24 September 2008: GlobeCast has signed a new five-year deal with Showtime Arabia to provide content management and delivery services for 13 of its global channels, with services provided ranging from multiplexing, uplink, and aggregation to playout from GlobeCast’s central London Technical Operations Centre.
Dubai-based Showtime Arabia, the leading Pay TV network in the Middle East and North Africa, has a three-year working relationship with GlobeCast and has now expanded that relationship to include playout services in addition to transport.
The feeds for 13 of Showtime Arabia’s international channels, including Discovery World, Cartoon Network and VH1, are received via satellite and fibre at GlobeCast’s Technical Operations Centre in Central London for aggregation and multiplexing followed by fibre delivery to GlobeCast’s Brookmans Park facility, where it is uplinked to the Nilesat 102 satellite, located at 7˚West.
GlobeCast’s recently-upgraded Content Management Suite in central London offers playout and signal transport under the same roof, adding value to the company’s broadcast offering. GlobeCast’s playout services, including opt-out, time delay and cover-up, will be used by up to seven of Showtime’s channels.
Mike Whittaker, Vice President Broadcast Operations & Technology, Showtime, said, “We have had a successful relationship with GlobeCast over the past three years to handle our signal transport. The fact that they can now handle our playout in the same facility on Grays Inn Road is a huge advantage for us, and we’re happy to be working with them on a true end-to-end solution.”
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GlobeCast (www.globecast.com): a subsidiary of France Telecom, is the leading global provider of content management and worldwide transmission services for professional broadcast delivery. The company operates a secure global satellite and fibre network to manage and transport 10 million hours of video and other rich media each year, providing ingest, aggregation, transmission and repurposing of content for delivery to direct-to-home satellite platforms; cable, IPTV, mobile and broadband headends; as well as corporate and digital signage networks. GlobeCast’s fleet of SNG trucks deploys globally to support coverage of the biggest news and sporting events each year in SD and HDTV formats. Borders are non-existent when it comes to GlobeCast’s services, thanks to the company’s 12 teleports and technical operations centres as well as its 18 offices in Europe, North and Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia.
Showtime Arabia (www.showtimearabia.com) is the leading Pay TV network in the Middle East and North Africa broadcasting the very best and latest blockbuster movies through its exclusive deals with the leading Hollywood studios including Paramount, Dreamworks, Sony Columbia, NBC Universal, Disney and local producers; exclusive premium sports including the world’s most popular football league the Premier League, International Rugby and other major sporting events; and the best International series and shows including Desperate Housewives, Lost, Prison Break, CSI and Ugly Betty to name just a few, first on TV and one full year before any other channel.
Showtime Arabia is based in Dubai and produces its own premium channels branded SHOWCINEMA, SHOWMOVIES, SHOWSPORTS, SHOWSERIES, SHOWCOMEDY, SHOWKIDS, SHOWTODAY and SHOWSHASHA. Showtime Arabia acquires, produces and packages the best programmes to deliver an exciting and broad range of programming to meet all of the family’s entertainment needs. The network’s owned channels are complemented with a premium selection of International partner channels including global brands like Disney, Discovery, Nat Geo Wild, the Style Network, CNBC, BBC and many more.
The network’s commitment to its customers goes beyond the region’s best programming. With SHOWBOX, the most advanced and first digital video recorder in the region and SHOWGUIDE, the electronic programming guide and print magazine. Via the SHOWBOX, Showtime Arabia has also launched SHOW ON DEMAND the region’s first video on demand service. Showtime Arabia incorporates the latest innovations in technology and the broadcast industry to provide customers with the maximum TV viewing experience.
Showtime Arabia is owned by Gulf DTH, which is a joint venture between Kuwait Projects Company Holding (KIPCO) and Viacom, Inc.
Vanessa Ching
Senior Manager, Marketing Communications – Asia
GlobeCast Asia
600 North Bridge Road #13-02/05 Parkview Square
188778 Singapore
T : 65.6325.4222
F : 65.6227.9782
