TECOM Media Cluster highlights opportunities in regional sector at ‘Middle East Broadcast Summit’

The rapid progress and enormous diversity of digital solutions,as well as convergence of media, along with the growing demand for premium indigenous content offers an extremely promising future for the regional broadcast industry. Therefore, it is imperative to adapt to this rapidly changing scenario if the sector is to capture emerging opportunities, according toAbdulla Al-Mohaisin, Director - Business Development, TECOM Investments’ Media Cluster.

Al-Mohaisin’s comment came during hispresentation at the third Middle East Broadcasting Summit, organized by Association and Communications Events and supported by TECOM Investment’s Media Cluster.

The event brought together key stakeholders including CEOs, directors, senior managers, engineers, technicians, and advertising executives from the broadcasting, telecommunications and media industriesto share best practicesand discuss opportunities for growth and reforms in the sector.

Thesummit featuredseminars on television satellite and new media broadcasting,as well as traditional, contemporary and emerging content distribution platforms. Focusing on the key issues for the region’s extensive broadcasting industry, it drew regional as well as international broadcasters, associations, speakers and developers of market leading technology.

During his presentation at the summit,Abdulla Al-Mohaisin deliberated on the challenges as well as the opportunities that lay ahead for the broadcasting industry.

He added: “To succeed in a radically different landscape of media convergence, broadcast players must understand where new growth will come from and how to capitalize on it. In particular, they must deliver content on multiple platforms. Also, it is vital to ensure close collaboration and strong commitment of all stakeholders in the content creation and distribution value chain,among technology vendors, financial investors and government policy regulators.”

Speakers at the summit also included Dr. Riyadh K Najm, Assistant Deputy Minister of Engineering, Ministry of Culture and Information, Saudi Arabia; Abdul Nasser Al Kaabi,Chief Technology Officer, Abu Dhabi Media Company; NaserShrouf, Head of Strategy and Distribution,Middle East and Africa,Deutsche Welle; Samer Abdin, Co-Founder,Istikana; Mohammad Burhan
CEO, CNBC Arabia, and SumantraDutta, Country Head - Middle East, Africa andPakistan, STAR TV.

The event comes at a time when the broadcast landscape is witnessing a perceptible shift. With an average of 60 per cent of the population in the GCC below 35, media consumption is mirroring this change. According to Price Waterhouse Coopers in 2010, the broadband and internet household penetration levels in the MENA region are expected to increase to 38.5 per cent and 64.3 per cent respectively. Backed by a young population and increase in broadband penetration in the region, digital migration is projected to be at full force in the coming years.

TECOM Investments’ Media Cluster – Dubai Media City, Dubai Studio City and International Media Production Zone – provides a complete value chain of specialised offerings that have created an established community hub for the media and content creation industries in the region.The TECOM Media Cluster comprises over 1,800 companies including freelance media professionals, start-ups and SMEs as well as media giants such as BBC, MBC Group, CNBC, China Central Television (CCTV) and Turner Broadcasting System Europe.