Abu Dhabi Media Company’s live EPL feeds get HD signal boost
Rebecca Hawkes ©RapidTVNews | 14-09-2010
ADMC, the new holder of the Middle East broadcast rights for the English Premier League (EPL), has enlisted Nevion to provide high definition signal processing and distribution technology for its live match coverage and other sporting events.
ADMC appointed Sony Professional Middle East as the systems integrator for ADMC’s new HD studios, who in turn worked alongside Nevion, because, said Farid Kabani, head of TV broadcast engineering at ADMC: “We needed a cost-effective and reliable signal processing solution that could fulfil all our requirements for our new state-of-the-art HD studios. We chose Nevion’s Flashlink solutions for their high reliability, small form factor, simplicity and ease of use.”
The latest Middle East EPL rights deal, reportedly costing the government-owned ADMC between £150 and £200 million, gives the UAE media group the privilege of delivering 380 EPL matches per season for the next three years to football-hungry viewers in the Arab World.
The ADMC Sports channels are now available by subscription online, or via satellite or cable pay-TV platforms operated by Etisalat and Du in the United Arab Emirates; Qtel in Qatar; Nuetel in Bahrain; and STC in Saudi Arabia.
Endemol Sport and Endemol Middle East are supporting ADMC in the production of EPL programming for both its Arabic and English channels. In addition, one of ADMC Sport’s English channels is broadcasting Premier League TV, the EPL’s 24-hour channel, with match presentation from studios in London, as well as news, views and ‘classic’ Premiership games from the archives.
The EPL operates a three year broadcast rights sales model for both international and domestic rights. In 2009, its overseas income doubled to £250 million per annum from £108 million in 2007 – and the rights deals concluded this year are thought to have at least doubled that figure once again.
Income, which is split between the EPL’s football clubs, is drawn from 211 territories in every continent, with over 500 million homes across the globe receiving transmission of Premiership matches.
For the 2010-2011 season, ADMC replaces the Orbit Showtime Network as the EPL rights holder in the region - a move which is likely to sorely hit the latter broadcaster. Al Jazeera Sport, meanwhile, holds the regional rights to the prestigious UEFA Champions League, and transmitted the FIFA World Cup across the Middle East this summer.
