Middle-East and North Africa Digital TV News

Comviva adds Sacom's MENA content to its Mooditt Digital Store
Jan 22, 2018 – Mahindra Comviva has announced that it has entered into a partnership with Sacom Mediaworks, a content aggregator in Middle East & Africa. The tie-up will provide Mooditt Digital Store, Comviva’s digital marketplace for content, with a broader range of VOD content.
News categories: Comviva, Sacom Mediaworks, Atul Madan, Dinesh Gupta, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Middle-East

Online video in MENA to grow more than 22% annually until 2021
Jan 15, 2018 – According to EY’s report on video consumption trends in the region, most MENA markets are projected to grow online video revenues by 22%–35% annually until 2021. As a result, digital’s share of the video revenue pie is projected to rise from 9.6% in 2017 to 17.3% by 2021.
News categories: EY, Ahmed Reda, Nripendra Singh, Digital TV, Market Research, Middle-East, Streaming

Growth in HD FTA channels at Eutelsat's 7/8°W neighbourhood
Jan 15, 2018 – At CABSAT, Eutelsat (Paris: ETL) has released data about the TV channels it broadcasts from its 7/8° West video neighbourhood. There are now 187 HD channels at this position, 110 of which are free-to-air.
News categories: Eutelsat, CABSAT, Market Research, Middle-East, Satellite

Pay TV competition biting in the MENA region
Jan 15, 2018 – Pay TV revenues in the Middle East and North Africa will reach $3.62 billion in 2023 – up by only 7.8% on 2017. Pay TV revenues will fall in 2018. They will be flat in 2019 before starting a slow recovery.
News categories: Digital TV Research, Simon Murray, Digital TV, Market Research, Middle-East

Partner Communications monitors OTT video quality with Interra Systems
Jan 12, 2018 – Interra Systems has announced that Partner Communications is using Interra's ORION-OTT monitoring solution to check live and VOD content integrity and related network performance of ABR content for its multiscreen OTT service, Partner TV.
News categories: Interra Systems, Partner Communications, Kanishka Tongya, Raz Bartov, Israel, Mobile, QoE, Streaming

STARZ PLAY available on LG Smart TVs
Jan 3, 2018 – STARZ PLAY has announced a partnership with LG to embed its app in LG Smart TVs. Select LG Smart TV models in the MENA region have been updated with the app, allowing subscribers to watch STARZ PLAY directly on their LG TV.
News categories: STARZ PLAY, LG, Danny Bates, Apps, Digital TV, Middle-East, Smart TV, Streaming

iflix celebrates 10 billion minutes streamed in 2017
Dec 18, 2017 – iflix is thrilled to share its latest milestone – 10 billion minutes streamed across its platform in 2017. The achievement marks an incredible uptake in user engagement, with cumulative viewing minutes up well over 400% from three billion total minutes streamed at the end of 2016.
News categories: iflix, Mark Britt, Asia, Digital TV, Market Research, Middle-East, Streaming, Worldwide

Rising investment in new technology revolutionizing legacy broadcasting in MENA
Dec 5, 2017 – In MENA, the television industry is evolving in terms of content and business models for over-the-top (OTT) and Pay-TV. According to Frost & Sullivan, broadcasters will adopt technologies to provide an enhanced user experience in the rising competitive landscape.
News categories: Frost & Sullivan, Aafia Bathool, Digital TV, Market Research, Middle-East

Number of pay TV operators with Android STBs hits 40 in 3Q 2017
Nov 15, 2017 – According to Dataxis research, around 40 worldwide Pay TV operators have deployed Android STBs up to the third quarter of 2017. Android is in general used by operators wishing to create more 'OTT friendly' pay TV offers as well as pure OTT services.
News categories: Dataxis, Africa, Android TV, Asia, Digital TV, Europe, Market Research, Middle-East, North America, Set Top Box