Middle-East and North Africa Digital TV News

Arab FTA Sat TV channels grew by 19% in 2011
May 15, 2012 – The number of FTA satellite channels in the Arab World increased by 19.3% between April 2011 and March 2012 to reach 642 channels (fully operational channels reached 565) according to Arab Advisors Group research.
News categories: Arab Advisors, Egypt, Market Research, Middle-East, Satellite, Saudi Arabia, UAE

High Definition channels in Europe on the up
Mar 29, 2012 – Recent data from the MAVISE TV database, developed by the European Audiovisual Observatory, shows the current status of the European television market. MAVISE contains data on the EU markets plus the candidates Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey.
News categories: MAVISE, European Audiovisual Observatory, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cable TV, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Digital TV, Estonia, EU, Europe, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, IPTV, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Market Research, Mobile, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Satellite, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Terrestrial, Turkey, UK

Kaonmedia Partners With Verimatrix for Etisalat's OTT Services in the UAE
Mar 21, 2012 – Kaonmedia (KOSDAQ: 078890) and Verimatrix have announced a partnership that has enabled the delivery of a next-generation, high quality over-the-top (OTT) TV experience for the Etisalat OnWeb service, which is part of eLife.
News categories: Kaonmedia, Verimatrix, Etisalat, Content Protection, Digital TV, Middleware, Set Top Box, Streaming, UAE, Video Exchange

Competition to boost pay TV in Middle East and North Africa
Mar 20, 2012 – The social and political turmoil that has rocked the Middle East and North Africa region has resulted in liberalisation measures, which will open up the pay TV sector. Digital TV penetration is already approaching 70% of television households.
News categories: Digital TV Research, Cable TV, Digital TV, IPTV, Market Research, Middle-East, Satellite, Subscribers, Terrestrial

FASTtelco Deploys Kuwait's First IPTV Service
Mar 14, 2012 – Verimatrix, BeeSmart and INC Emirates Technology have announced that Kuwait's FASTtelco has deployed BeeSmart Middleware, integrated with the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS™) for Internet TV platform, to fuel its new interactive TV service.
News categories: Verimatrix, BeeSmart, FASTtelco, INC Emirates, Conditional Access, Content Protection, Digital TV, IPTV, Kuwait, Middleware, Video Exchange

Conax security upgrade for Turksat cable TV
Feb 29, 2012 – Conax has announced its agreement with Turksat for deployment of a Conax Contego™ content security solution for its rapidly expanding cable TV operations.
News categories: Conax, Türksat, Cable TV, CABSAT, Conditional Access, Turkey

EBU Members offered free applications to 'fast-track' launch of HbbTV
Feb 2, 2012 – European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Members will be offered generic applications to deploy Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) during the Olympics and the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), when audiences peak.
News categories: European Broadcasting Union, Apps, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Europe, Finland, France, Germany, HbbTV, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine

Pace helps Yes transition to advanced HD digital services in Israel
Jan 11, 2012 – Pace (LSE: PIC) has announced that it has signed a partnership deal with 'yes' in Israel. Under the agreement, Pace will provide new platforms to enable Yes to deploy HD digital services, including HD Video on Demand, to its customers.
News categories: Pace plc, 'yes', Digital TV, Israel, Satellite, Set Top Box

EBU drive will bring Hybrid TV into European homes in 2012
Dec 1, 2011 – More than 20 EBU Members have agreed to collaborate to unlock the full potential of Hybrid TV for a European rollout of the technology in 2012. The announcement came as the EBU opened its 67th General Assembly, at the EBU headquarters, in Geneva.
News categories: European Broadcasting Union, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, DVB-MHP, Finland, France, Germany, HbbTV, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, MHEG-5, Middleware, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Smart TV, Spain, Streaming, Turkey, Ukraine