In Broadcast - CABSAT 2017 - 3

www.inbroadcast.com | CABSAT InShow Guide | 21 - 23 March 2017

CABSAT 2017 - Making Connections,
Moving Forward

CABSAT marks 23 years

Foreword by Hassan Ghoul,
IABM Director, MEA

his year is the 23rd CABSAT, and
I have been fortunate enough to
attend every edition of this important
Media, Broadcast and Entertainment
event for the Middle East, Africa and
South Asia (MEASA) region.
The event has come a long way
since its inception. Long gone are the
days when the whole show could fit
in one or two halls of the Dubai World
Trade Centre exhibitions area. Those
who visited the show in its early days
would remember that it had a midday
break when the exhibition would
close its doors at about 1 pm and then
reopen at 4pm. Show timings this year
are 10am to 6pm on the first two days,
and 10am to 5pm on the last day.

CABSAT 2017 occupies halls 1 to 8
of the DWTC Convention Centre and
will provide its 13,000+ visitors an
opportunity to experience the latest,
state-of-the-art broadcast, digital
media and satellite technologies.
The main theme of the event, Where
Content Connects, clearly underscores
the crucial role that content plays
in the Media and Entertainment
business; CABSAT will feature every
aspect of content creation and
distribution.
In 2016, our industry and our market
witnessed the start of what will
undoubtedly be a major shift in the
technology, consumer viewing habits
and business models of the Media and

Entertainment players in the MEASA
region. The transition to IP technology
is generating a lot of questions
which are further complicated by
interoperability issues among various
manufacturers. Industry initiatives
over the last year have, however,
moved this issue forward; expect to
see real progress demonstrated on the
show floor.
Media
and
Entertainment
professionals will therefore expect to
get a feel for the technology trends
during CABSAT so they can decide on
their own strategies and roadmaps
for IP infrastructure, adoption of 4K/
UHD and beyond, OTT and Cloudbased operations, multi-platform
delivery, and even VR
(Virtual Reality) and AR
(Augmented Reality).
The CABSAT Conference,
dubbed as the Content
Congress, will run on
March 21 and 22 and
will comprise about 20
sessions with more than
40 speakers. The sessions
will
include
several
interactive panel discussions. The
first day will mainly cover the Satexpo
program which will include sessions
about Satellite Communications. One
of the sessions is an Idea Swap about
the state of play in the MENA Satellite
Broadcasting market. The speakers in
this session include executives from
Inmarsat, Al Jazeera Media Networks
and Eutelsat.
The second day will focus on
technologies for content creation and
distribution. The session speakers
include Vidya Nath from Frost &
Sullivan who will present the State of
the Industry Report on MENA Media.
The session will cover the report's
findings on changing viewership

habits among free-to-air, pay TV
and OTT video consumers; revenue
growth potential from Pay TV and
OTT; and the key technologies that will
empower the next generation of video
services (Artificial Intelligence and
Analytics).
On Wednesday, March 22, a panel
discussion will explore the latest
trends and innovations in Ultra
HD, Virtual Reality, OTT and multiplatform services. The speakers in
this session include executives from
EBU, IABM and Japan's Ministry of
Internal Affairs and Communications.
Another panel discussion will debate
how Telcos and OTT players can
successfully cooperate.
The GVF Satellite Hub Summit is
running again this year over two days,
on March 22 and 23. It takes place in
Hall 8 within the Satellite area of the
exhibition. The first day of the summit
will include a session which will cover
the key challenges of piracy for the
industry. The session will discuss the
strategies that the MENA operators
are adopting to combat piracy.
This year CABSAT is introducing a
new feature - the CABSAT Appathon.
This is a contest between ten teams
of developers who will compete to
produce the best TV App based on the
Metrological Application Framework.
The ten teams will spend the first
two days of the show on the CABSAT
exhibition floor, working round the
clock. The winning team gets the
chance to pitch their app to operators
such as Ooredoo, Liberty Global and

Contact

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Publisher
Phillip Izzard
pizzard@inbroadcast.com

Editor
Steven Preston
ed@inbroadcast.com

International
Business Development
Bryn Lister
blister@inbroadcast.com

Design & Production
Martin Donnelly
martin@inbroadcast.com

KPN, offering a total reach of over 40
million households worldwide.
Content Marketplace is once again
featured in CABSAT 2017 where
Content creators, distributors and
buyers will be able to buy and sell the
latest content for the MEASA viewers.
CABSAT's Content Delivery Hub will
group companies involved in OTT
delivery solutions that facilitate the
delivery of video or digital content via
internet protocol and purpose built
platforms for 'anytime, anywhere'
consumption. With growing demand
among Middle East viewers for
online video content, over-the-top
technology is becoming more and
more mainstream.
In conclusion, while CABSAT continues to provide the region's Media
and Entertainment professionals
with the ideal environment to view
and experience the latest technology
developments, I have always found,
over the past 22 years, that my most
valuable take from the show was the
networking opportunity with my industry peers from the region and from
further afield; as well as renewing acquaintances, there's nothing like oneto-one interactions to get a real feel
for where our industry is headed.

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