Broadcastpro – Page 10 – Virtual BroadcastPro Tech Webinar | 27 July 2023

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund has appointed Egyptian actor Ahmed Helmy as the new regional ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa.

“I am truly excited about this new role,” said Ahmed Helmy during an online ceremony held to mark the appointment. “I am delighted to continue to work with UNICEF to advocate for children’s rights across the region.”

Helmy in his new role will focus on promoting child rights and awareness on early childhood development issues in the region.

In 2017, the actor was chosen to serve as UNICEF’s Ambassador in Egypt and has participated in multiple events to advocate for child protection and empowerment.

Helmy kicked off his journey with a short video, promoting ending violent disciplinary practices and his reflections as a father. The campaign, according to the organisation, reached more than 80m people on social media.

His wife, actress Mona Zaki, is also a UNICEF ambassador. In 2018, Helmy and Zaki were the main advocates of Egypt’s first national anti-bullying campaign.

The post UNICEF appoints Egyptian actor Ahmed Helmy as new regional ambassador appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (Du) has appointed Fahad Al Hassawi as its new CEO after he has been serving in an acting capacity since last September.

With a career spanning over two decades, Al Hassawi has held several leadership positions in Dubais Emirates Airlines and Du. Al Hassawi was the acting CEO following the departure of Johan Dennelind last year.

Speaking about the appointment, Mohammad Hadi Al Hussaini, Chairman, Emirates Integrated Telecommunication Company said: The EITC board has envisaged an ambitious transformational mandate from the inside-out, directed at driving a purpose and performance-driven culture, a faster go-to-market approach, and a deeper and more personalized customer experience. To realize these ambitions, Al Hassawi has been appointed to lead EITC into the next phase of growth and expansion. Im confident that he will build on the momentum that EITC has embarked on and usher in a new accelerated phase of transformation.

The post Fahad Al Hassawi moves to CEOÂs role at Du appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Ivory Coast-based startup StarNews Mobile, a mobile video network enabling celebrities and influencers to monetise their fan bases in Africa, has collaborated with mobile operator Orange to deliver its video platform to Orange’s 150m subscribers across 15 countries in Africa.

Launched in July 2017, StarNews Mobile targets the mass market with a network of over 50 mobile channels offering celebrity-based content priced at low subscription rates.

This agreement marks a significant step toward providing an economically viable model that will ensure quality local content is created in Africa and delivered to the local consumers.

Speaking about the partnership, Guy Kamgaing, CEO of StarNews Mobile, said: “The partnership with Orange represents an enormous boost in our expansion strategy as we continue to create partnerships with countless deserving content creators across the African continent who work hard to produce beautiful content, whether it’s music, sports, comedy, or entertainment. As StarNews services become more accessible and provide a one-of-kind streaming experience to people through an affordable subscription fee, we believe consumption of local content over mobile in Africa will take off in a massive way. Having now worked with Orange in Cameroon for over a year, they have shown us their dedication to support this movement and with their pan-African footprint, we will be able to quickly offer this same opportunity to any local content creator from Douala today to Abidjan, Dakar, Bamako, Conakry or Madagascar tomorrow. Thanks to Orange, creating a local content ecosystem in Africa will become a reality.”

StarNews Mobile helps content creators make money from their talent while allowing consumers to have access to streaming content at a low price.

The post StarNews Mobile ties with Orange to provide content across Francophone Africa appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Amman International Film Festival- Awal Film (AIFF) has announced its second edition, which is scheduled to take place from August 23-31, 2021.

Jordan’s first international film festival returns for its second year in a row, after being the world’s first international film fest to commence in-person during the pandemic in August 2020.

The festival is currently accepting films by first-time filmmakers for its International Competitive Section.

International films will be competing for the Audience Award, which will provide the winner with the Black Iris for Best International Début, in addition to a monetary award.

Submissions are now open for feature-length narratives and documentaries for first-time international filmmakers. To be eligible, films must be released between 2020 and 2021 and be Jordanian premières and must be the first film for its director.

Nada Doumani, Director of AIFF, said: “The international dimension of the festival is essential, although our focus is on Arab cinema. First-time directors often achieve masterpieces and our audience, here in Jordan, is made of film buffs, keen on watching quality movies from all over the world.”

Submissions for films will close on June 28, 2021.

The post AIFF invites film submissions to International Competitive Section appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Apollo Fusion ACE thruster operating with Xenon propellant

Launch vehicle developer Astra has moved to acquire propulsion company Apollo Fusion in a transaction valued up to $145m. This acquisition allows Astra to provide launch and space services beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), to medium Earth orbit, geosynchronous, and lunar orbits.

Chris Kemp, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Astra, said: In addition to increasing Astras total addressable market for launch services, the acquisition of Apollo Fusion accelerates Astras ability to efficiently deliver and operate spacecraft beyond low Earth orbit.

Reid Hoffman, Partner at Greylock and Lead Investor in Apollo Fusion, added: Scale is what makes innovation matter. Im excited that Apollo Fusion will be a key enabler of Astras hyperscale space platform.

Mike Cassidy, Founder and CEO of Apollo Fusion, stated: Propulsion systems open new destinations. Our team is excited to combine the flexibility of in-space propulsion with the worlds most responsive launch provider.

In addition to Cassidy, the acquisition brings a team with experience from companies such as Google, Tesla, and SpaceX, with individuals who have developed, designed, and manufactured hardware flying on over 2,000 satellites in orbit.

Under the agreement, Astra is acquiring Apollo Fusion for a purchase price of $50m: $30m in stock and $20m in cash. Additionally, there is potential for earn-outs of up to $95m: $10m in employee incentive stock, $10m in cash for reaching technical milestones, and $75m ($60m in stock, $15m in cash) for reaching revenue milestones. PJT Partners is acting as a financial advisor to Astra in connection with this series of transactions.

This transaction will close after Astras business combination with Holicity is completed, and is expected to be accretive to revenue starting this year.

The post Astra to acquire Apollo Fusion to reach new orbits appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Skylo, a satellite-based narrow-band (NB) IoT solution company, has announced that Inmarsat will provide the satellite capacity backbone to deliver its IoT solutions for connecting machines and sensors.

The agreement pairs Inmarsats satellite network with IoT solution that provides remotely located application users with real-time, actionable insights, helping improve efficiencies, increase profits, improve sustainability, and save lives.

The solution is available now in India through a partnership with in-country partner BSNL and expansion plans will be announced later this year.

Commenting on the partnership, Rajeev Suri, Inmarsat Chief Executive Officer, said: The most effective IoT solutions require a truly resilient and flexible network that can scale as demand grows. Inmarsats industry-leading L-band network provides a unique capability for enabling the billions of connected IoT devices in India and across the world that are being deployed at an extraordinary speed. We are delighted to work with Skylo to provide the IoT fabric that matches their ambition.

Parth Trivedi, Co-founder and CEO of Skylo, added: Skylo makes simple, reliable IoT connectivity available to everyone at disruptively affordable rates. Even more attractive than a sharp increase in adoption due to low barrier-to-entry, is deploying critical new business capabilities as machine data becomes readily available and accessible. Our global IoT connectivity fabric makes way for thousands of life-changing applications from managing vaccine efficacy during delivery, to advancing precision farming, to provide early warnings in the event of natural disasters. We look forward to expanding globally and making our platform available to small and large enterprises, companies deploying new sensors, systems integrators, distributors, Governments and OEMs.

The post Skylo inks deal with Inmarsat to enable narrowband IoT over satellite solution appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Globalstar Europe Satellite Services Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globalstar Inc., has announced that TracTrac, specialists in tracking solutions for competitive sailing and extreme sports, is deploying Spot Gen4 devices to support race events on land and sea.

Established in 2005, TracTrac is a software and services company which has developed a tracking platform specifically designed to provide tracking capability for difficult-to-follow sports.

In competitive sailing, TracTrac has long supported many regattas internationally which predominately take place inshore, namely sailing races which hug the coastline and can be tracked using GSM-based systems.

Speaking about the deal, Chris Terkelsen, Co-founder of TracTrac, said: Weve been seeing huge growth in more challenging racing events, far beyond the shoreline; we knew that to deliver reliable tracking for these longer races further offshore, we needed our system to include satellite technology.

Terkelsen added: Spots ease-of-use and ubiquitous, reliable satellite-enabled reach, were key influencing factors. Spots economical and competitive pricing was also a very important component in the selection decision. Other systems were more expensive, and we found them to not deliver commensurate performance benefits. With Globalstar and Spot we know are getting powerful functionality and real value for our investment. Spot only has a few buttons; it is easy to hand to the boat crews or our partners and right away they can see how to use it. Open sea can be a hostile environment, and it comes with risks. Spots SOS button provides great peace of mind for the race organisers as well as participants.

In 2020, TracTrac procured a newly launched Spot Gen4, more than tripling its total pool of Spot devices as a result. Spot Gen4, which Globalstar launched in EMEA in August 2020, offers many new features compared to its precedents, including more mapping options, improved water resistance and an enhanced user interface, among others.

The TracTrac interface also reveals a variety of different performance data, showing the manoeuvres the sailors are performing, and other useful data such as wind direction. Furthermore, an overview of the boats locations helps event organisers with logistics management due to the ability to predict arrival times, as well as safety.

Terkelsen explained: Weve seen a significant rise in offshore events, in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, for example, but also there is growing demand and participation in extreme physical endurance races in rugged and remote terrain, all places where mobile cant reliably reach. For all these, well need Spots satellite-enabled tracking.

Gary King, Globalstars Spot Regional Sales Manager, stated: We are excited to help TracTrac support its customers with reliable Globalstar satellite technology. The adrenaline-charged events that TracTrac supports, with real-time tracking as part of its live viewer interface, will certainly provide exhilaration and delight for spectators all over the world.

Globalstars economical Spot satellite devices also provide security and emergency support to employees for a growing number of businesses, governmental and non-governmental entities across the world.

The post TracTrac deploys Globalstar Spot Gen4 to support sailing regattas and racing events appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Three-dimensional animation expert Thomas Kutschera has been giving students from Manipal University, Dubai, a crash course on creating realistic and powerful characters onscreen through workshops being organised by FUNN – Sharjah Media Arts for Children and Youth.

Kutschera was a part of the team at Pixomondo, who design the special effects and dragons for Game of Thrones.

Part of a five-day programme being held every Friday, the three-hour sessions aim to introduce participants to rigging, animation, and simulation tools in the Maya 3D visual effects software and how to create computer-generated imagery (CGI) characters.

Participants were introduced to user interface navigation in Maya, working with primitives, and the use of image planes as references for modelling on the first day.

The participants will receive documentation as well as sample scenes.

The post FUNN organises animation workshop with ‘Game of Thrones’ animator appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Ross Video has acquired media-asset-management solutions provider Primestream. Founded in 1999 and based in Miami, Primestream offers media asset workflow solutions that are used by major international corporations, including Cisco, Microsoft Studios, Verizon Media, Nordic Entertainment Group, the NFL Network, ABP News and Sun TV.

The acquisition marks Ross Video’s 17th since 2009 and its largest to date, taking the Ross headcount over the 1,000-employee threshold.

The acquisition will see the Primestream portfolio and teams led by president/CEO Claudio Lisman and EVP Namdev Lisman, along with the company’s R&D and technical support teams, all transition over to Ross. Ross will look to blend its Streamline media asset management solution with Primestream products over time, to create a fully converged graphics and production asset management platform.

Primestream’s solutions are used by customers within various market verticals, including Enterprise, Digital Media, Sports and Broadcast. Primestream supports a comprehensive range of workflows for live-feeds and file-based content – from HD to 4K and VR/360 – enabling users to streamline editing, newsroom metadata logging, control room playout, and seamlessly share, edit, review and approve content prior to either broadcasting live, automate on-demand play-out, or publish to a wide range of OTT platforms.

Commenting on the acquisition, David Ross, CEO of Ross, said: “Ross is unique in the live production space, not just because of the depth of our product portfolio, but the emphasis we have consistently placed on solving customer problems, regardless of the technology platform in use. Acquisitions have played an important role in our success and this acquisition – our largest to date – will be no exception, I’m sure. The combination of Primestream MAM and media tools plus our world-leading automation, graphics, and powerful newsroom computer system tools is extremely enticing and will provide customers with a truly world-class, end-to-end integrated Media Asset Management solution.”

Claudio Lisman said: “We are extremely proud of what we have achieved here at Primestream, from both a solutions development and customer engagement perspective. We have built an exceptional team that’s very customer-centric in approach. In joining Ross, we are joining a like-minded group that will help us reach new international markets, scale much more effectively and realise our aspirations.”

The post Ross Video acquires Primestream appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Belgian technology company Barco has appointed NMK Electronics, a Midwich Group company, to distribute its ClickShare product range in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Iraq.

Barco offers wireless conferencing and presentation solutions for all size meeting rooms ranging from huddle spaces to large meetings rooms.

Commenting on the deal, Alex Kemanes, Managing Director at NMK Electronics, said: “With our aim of distributing leading AV & IT brands, Barco is a new and important addition to the family as it enhances our existing brand portfolio of unified communication and collaboration. We are delighted to work with the market leader in wireless collaboration. Barco has been spearheading the business platform and the brand’s innovative approach fills many gaps in the market. We look forward to working on some exciting projects in the coming months.”

The agreement completes NMK’s unified communication and collaboration division alongside Bose and Shure. NMK strategises to promote ClickShare in the government, enterprise, corporate and education sectors.

NMK plans to tap into the channel business, focusing on AV and IT integrators and will use the NMK Academy as a tool to help its customers to become comfortable and familiar with the product.

Nathalie Leignel Andersen, VP Sales Collaboration EMEA, added: “We are delighted to expand our partnership with the Midwich group to the GCC region. Midwich has been for many years a Barco partner in the AV business and more recently was appointed as Barco ClickShare Distributor in France and UK. We are keen on strengthening this international partnership on the base of business synergies, namely in the UCC space.”

The post Barco selects NMK Electronics to distribute ClickShare product appeared first on BroadcastPro ME.

Source: Broadcastpro ME

Newer Posts

Older Posts