Al Aan TV Selects Harris Broadcast for Transition to HD

Harris Broadcast, a market share leader of content management and network infrastructure solutions serving the global broadcast, communications service provider, government and enterprise markets, today announced that it is on air with a new, end-to-end, file-based HD broadcast solution at Al Aan Television.

From its base in Dubai Media City, pan-Arab satellite channel Al Aan broadcasts free to air and has an extensive online presence, covering women related issues, news and current affairs from the unique perspective of Arab women. Launched in 2006, the station now has a significant following.

In support of a phased migration to HD, Al Aan selected Harris Broadcast to manage the transition and implement a highly secure, flexible and efficient workflow. The fully integrated, end-to-end media content management and channel playout solution enables Al Aan to centralize and simplify the entire content lifecycle, automate labor-intensive processes and easily repurpose content for multiple delivery platforms.

As part of a project to further boost its reach and play out large amounts of content in many different formats, Al Aan has expanded on its existing video servers with a network of Harris Broadcast HD/SD Nexio server and storage solutions, along with Nexio Motion intelligent media movement software, which allows Al Aan to customize software defined workflows uniquely to their operations and save labor. The new installation is designed with a high level of redundancy, including dual ADC automation platforms.

Our decision to select the Harris Broadcast servers and software stems back to the first-rate experience I had while at Jordan Media City, and I could see that the latest solution developments offered the best specifications and workflows for the project at Al Aan, said Raad Haddadin, head of technical at Al Aan. As well as ADC automation, we also have Harris Broadcasts Landmark sales and scheduling system, and the benefits of seamless integration from initial planning to final playout are huge.

The new system was designed and implemented internally by Al Aan engineering team, supported by Harris Broadcast. Together, they developed all the necessary interfaces and configurations. Al Aan intends to move its entire operation to HD. As a first step, Harris Broadcast supported its move from SD playout to 16:9 aspect ratio, to secure viewers acceptance.

While it is tempting to talk about implementing great new workflows, in the real world, broadcasters already have both existing equipment and their own ways of working, which means we must put as much emphasis on the transition to improved technologies as the technology itself, said Mathias Eckert, vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, for Harris Broadcast. We have worked closely and directly with Raad and the team at Al Aan on this project to smoothly move all their content and operations to the new workflows. They have already gone widescreen, and are ready for HD at the touch of a button.

Al Aan TV switched over to the new system overnight on January 31, 2014.

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