GlobeCast and ARABSAT launch the Global Arabic Bouquet with ASBU on ARABSAT 5C to cover Africa
PARIS — Jan. 5, 2012 — GlobeCast and ARABSAT announced today that the Global Arabic Bouquet (GAB), a grouping of premium Arabic channels from the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) available anywhere in the world, is now located on the 5C satellite over Africa. This satellite, ARABSAT’s newest, was launched in September 2011.
GlobeCast – ARABSAT and ASBU’s partner for the worldwide distribution of the GAB – is providing all the technical services required for end-to-end delivery. The terrestrial delivery is done from Amman by Jordan Media City. This service via ARABSAT replaces the bouquet’s previous distribution.
Since the launch of their partnership in 2004, GlobeCast, ARABSAT and ASBU have expanded the Global Arabic Bouquet’s potential viewership and footprint, offering a single global coverage to ASBU members.
Philippe Fort, Chief Operating Officer of GlobeCast says, “We are pleased to work with our long-time partners ARABSAT and ASBU on optimizing the delivery of this bouquet of premium Arab content to households across Africa. We’re looking forward to the bouquet’s success in this growing market.”
Khaled Balkheyour, ARABSAT President and CEO, said “Our partnership with GlobeCast has been strengthened with the successful launch of ARABSAT 5C as our fleet is becoming part of the global distribution network of Free-to-Air Arabic channels managed by GlobeCast, specifically the ARABSAT/ASBU Global Bouquet.”
Commenting on the new development, Salaheddine Maaoui, ASBU Director General, said, “ARABSAT 5C will give the Arab broadcasters an opportunity to reach the Arab viewers in the African continent, where C-band still plays an important role. This means that Arab broadcasters can now reach African viewers more easily.”
Press Contacts:
Wall Street Communications – Marguerite Clark:
marguerite@wallstcom.com
GlobeCast (New York) – Matthew Rosenstein:
matthew.rosenstein@globecast.com
+1 212 332 2178
GlobeCast (Singapore) – Hani Sallim:
haniati.sallim@globecast.com
+65 6325 4222
GlobeCast (Paris) – Bazeli Mbo:
bazeli.mbo@globecast.com
+33 1 5595 2604
Arabsat Press Contact: – Saad Tehaif:
saadt@arabsat.com
+966 1 4820000
ASBU Press Contact: – Bassil ZOUBI:
bassil.zoubi@asbu.net
+216 71 841 445
About ARABSAT
Founded in 1976 by the 21 member-states of the Arab League, ARABSAT has been serving the growing needs of the Arab world for over 35 years. It carries over 450 TV FTA channels, 30+HD channels, 4pay TV networks, and 160+Radio stations reaching tens of millions of homes in more than 100 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and way beyond around the world including an audience of over 170 million viewers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region alone tuned into ARABSAT’s video “hotspot” at 26º East.
Operating a growing fleet of satellites at the 26°East, 30.5°East, and 20R East positions of the geostationary orbit, ARABSAT is the only satellite operator in the MENA region offering the full spectrum of Broadcast, Telecommunications and Broadband services. This capacity will continue to expand with the launching of new satellites, making the ARABSAT satellite fleet the youngest in the region.
About ARAB STATES BROADCASTING UNION-ASBU
The Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) is one of the oldest pan-Arab institutions, belonging to the League of Arab States system. It is a professional organization, established in February 1969 in Khartoum, with the objective of “strengthening ties and promoting cooperation among broadcasters in the Arab States for better production and content development.” ASBU provides important services to member broadcasters and to others, such as engineering and consulting services, radio and television exchange of news, programming and sports, as well as radio and TV training. It also strives to acquire broadcasting rights at preferential rates for a number of competitions and sports events to the benefit of its members, as well as to ensure the appropriate broadcasting coverage of such events.
About GlobeCast (www.globecast.com)
A subsidiary of France Telecom is a leading global provider of content management and worldwide transmission services for professional broadcast delivery. The company operates a secure global satellite and fiber network to manage and transport 10 million hours of video and other rich media each year. Top-tier broadcasters and content providers of all sizes turn to GlobeCast for ingest, aggregation, transmission and repurposing of content for delivery to direct-to-home satellite platforms; cable, IPTV, mobile and broadband headends, as well as corporate and digital signage networks. GlobeCast’s fleet of SNG trucks deploys globally to support coverage of the biggest news and sporting events each year in SD and HDTV formats. Borders are non-existent when it comes to GlobeCast’s services, thanks to the company’s 12 teleports and technical operations centres as well as its 17 offices in Europe, North and Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia.
