The Egyptian Connection: Al Ghad Al Arabis new Egyption Channel

Al Ghad Al Arabi, a UK-based Arabic-language TV station, recently established a new channel in Egypt using Vizrt graphics systems.

Originally published by Broadcast Pro Middle East

Al Ghad Al Arabi is a 24-hour free-to-air news channel that started broadcasting from London in 2013 with plans to set up studios and production facilities in Cairo and Beirut in subsequent years. Last month, the Arabic-language TV channel opened its newly kitted-out Cairo facility. The Cairo station was set up with the objective of adding more regional content and live programming to the news channel's roster of programmes. Work on the Beirut station is expected to begin soon.

The Cairo facility, boasting two studios and master control transmission, has been integrated by AV Solutions, a Dubai-based systems integrator with offices in Iraq and Egypt. The contract to build the TV station in Cairo was awarded to AV Solutions in September 2014. The SI was mandated to supply the equipment, install it and manage the project and its delivery in a studio space at EMPC (Egyptian Media Production City) that was rented out to Al Ghad Al Arabi.

Commenting on the project, Zaid Wattar, Managing Director of AV Solutions, explains that the Egyptian centre is to operate as a second channel of Al Ghad Al Arabi, after London.

The facility was built from scratch, with some equipment supplied by EMPC as mandatory rental equipment along with the studios. The existing equipment, comprising Grass Valley cameras and some control room equipment, has been integrated with the new systems.

AV Solutions has been involved in several broadcast projects in Egypt, which was the reason the SI established a base in Cairo last December and was chosen for this job.

Al Ghad Al Arabi was looking for a partner who could supply and install software broadcast technologies. We have already delivered several projects in Egypt, so we were asked to take on this project, claims Wattar, who adds that AV Solutions has a team of certified Avid and Vizrt engineers.

Since Avid and Vizrt solutions are at the core of the channel's news and graphics workflow in the London studio, AV Solutions, with its experience and team, became a strong contender to integrate the Cairo facility.

We were involved right from the supply, installation, project management and delivery. Training services have been implemented on-site by the vendors' teams. We will also provide after-sales support and service level agreement, for the systems installed, says Wattar.

Built with a budget of more than $3m, the Cairo studios will be used to broadcast the second news channel of Al Ghad Al Arabi TV, with more focus on Egypt. The studios will also be used for some programmes broadcast by the London channel.

The Cairo facility boasts a main studio and a secondary remote studio 1km apart, connected through a fibre optical solution that is capable of transporting uncompressed video signals and reliable high-speed 10Gbps IP data, as well as handling IP intercom communications. In addition, AV Solutions also deployed an advanced IP-based intercom system from RTS to connect the Cairo and London studios with centralised communications capabilities.

The TV channel's main studio houses six Grass Valley cameras, while the second studio is equipped with three Sony cameras and a Viz Virtual Studio set. The main and secondary studios also have a Sony MVS-6530 and MVS-3000 vision mixer.

In addition, there are playout servers, automation, master control, router and core processing units from Imagine Communications. The news production and news playout are from Avid, and the on-air graphics for studios and MCR have been supplied by Vizrt. Both studios offer full modular expansion-proof capability for the future, including video servers, Avid system, Vizrt graphics, routing and intercom.

The key highlights of this project, according to Wattar, are the Avid integration with Imagine playout servers and automation, and the Vizrt graphics' integration with Avid iNews, connecting the remote studio with uncompressed 3G-SDI multi-video, data and video reference through fibre optics.

The WorkflowThe station requires centralised archiving and collaboration, agility and ease of operational management, intelligently orchestrated workflows and operational integration to enable the broadcaster to quickly and easily share assets between stations. The Cairo station, therefore, has been built on a system that allows both London and Cairo to collaborate efficiently through the Avid Everywhere platform, which is the backbone of this installation.

Amro Elbouhy, Avid Territory Account Manager, says this is the first installation in Egypt based on our Avid Everywhere platform, which is building the infrastructure to serve seamless collaboration amongst editors and journalists .

It enables broadcasters to share content between locations on different continents, in this case between the UK and Egypt. This is a real Avid Everywhere success story, claims Elbouhy.

The station boasts iNEWS for news automation, Interplay|PAM to manage the media, ISIS|5500 for storage and MediaCentral|UX to collaborate across stations. These tools enable Al Ghad Al Arabi to centralise the media asset storage, access, search and metadata tagging. AirSpeed 5000 manages proper ingest, playout and control. With the help of Media Composer and NewsCutter licences, journalists are able to collaborate and edit their work together, as well as work with editors in multiple departments at the stations along with the needed services, support and training.

Avid ISIS-stored media can be shared with Imagine Communications' Nexio Playout, managed by ADC Automation, and Nexio Motion media management for the near-line archive system. Imagine's fully redundant server, automation and media management handles the direct-to-a

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