CNBC Arabia’s Doha IP production centre commenced operations early this year. The multi-million-dollar studio is a crucial part of the channel’s ambitious expansion plan, which encompasses setting up multiple production hubs across the region, crafting cross-platform content and catalysing the region’s business news landscape. Speaking to BroadcastPro ME, Mohamad Burhan, the network’s CEO, and Shabbir Hussain, Director of Operations and Engineering, delve into the technological innovations underpinning the Doha facility and outline their plans.
When CNBC Arabia wanted to expand its facilities, maintaining uninterrupted 24-hour transmission and retaining viewership were important considerations. As these were rather difficult to achieve from its existing location in Dubai Media City, the broadcaster started looking at other locations across the emirate.
“We started exploring opportunities in Dubai, and then the idea to expand to a different country occurred. After studying all our options, we narrowed down on Doha,” says CEO Burhan.
CNBC Arabia’s Doha production centre encompasses two expansive studios spanning 160sqm and 140sqm. Complementing them are two production control rooms (PCRs) and one master control room (MCR), along with three edit suites and five graphics stations. A studio gallery seamlessly interconnects both studios, with one equipped for virtual reality (VR) production; there are plans to add an extended reality (XR) set soon.
Having had a good experience with Salam Media Cast as the systems integrator for its Dubai HQ, which was revamped a couple of years ago, CNBC Arabia retained them for this project as well. The IP solutions for the Doha facility were provided by Evertz Microsystems, while the base system infrastructure was supplied by Riedel Communications. Working with the same tech providers allowed CNBC Arabia to not only centralise its infrastructure but also simplify the ‘talking’ between its multiple bureaus and production facilities.
“Since we toggle between all our studios and bureaus during live hours, connectivity to each location and live coverage from events and conferences were a key part of our project’s design and deliverables,” explains Shabbir Hussain, CNBC Arabia’s Director of Operations and Engineering.
CNBC Arabia’s Doha studio is now a complete SMPTE 2110 facility, designed to also serve as a disaster recovery (DR) centre for the channel. “The integration between the Dubai and Doha studios is such that our daily live shows can be produced from both locations as per the schedule grid. In any case of an emergency, we can use either of the studios with complete coverage from one location,” elaborates Hussain.
Incorporating solutions from Aviwest and LiveU for bureau reporting, the channel harnesses wireless video contribution technology over bonded cellular networks to facilitate seamless connectivity between each of CNBC Arabia’s bureaus and production centres. Grass Valley cameras and switchers further enhance the production capabilities at both facilities. The Dubai and Doha sites are connected via Cisco-managed SDWAN solutions that provide improved performance and network visibility across the broadcast network. The solution is scalable and can adapt to evolving bandwidth requirements. It also gives users access to all services across the channel’s network.
As part of its expansion, CNBC Arabia’s Dubai HQ was also upgraded with the latest Avid and Vizrt systems, along with a deep archive from Avid. The channel migrated all its tapes and assets to the new system.
Future-proofing and scalability have been the guiding principles for all tech implementations. The upgrades have also made CNBC Arabia the first in the region to use Avid|EOD over the cloud. All its bureaus complete the final edit of their packages on Avid SaaS (Cloud Media Composer and Avid NEXIS), and they are then directly downloaded into the Avid system at the location for final playout.
Looking ahead, CNBC Arabia’s expansion roadmap includes additional production facilities in key markets such as Saudi Arabia, with plans to revamp regional offices into fully-fledged production centres and to then move west to explore opportunities in North Africa.
“We have six offices around the region and are planning to turn these into production centres. We started with Doha and will repeat the same exercise in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is a major market in terms of business news and we plan to launch a big facility there soon,” says Burhan, who claims that CNBC Arabia’s ambitious expansion plan seeks to benefit the wider industry as well, aiming to “raise interest among investors in the region’s business sector and urge the business community to be more actively engaged in the business news industry … When I was in Doha, everybody was talking about our new production facility. They wanted to know how they could be a part of this growth. We are helping develop the business news environment in the region.”
Burhan points to another crucial factor in the channel’s success: its editorial policies. “What we have done on the tech side is great, but what I am proud of is how our editorial values have kept pace with the ever-changing consumer demands and technological advances.
CNBC Arabia has been in the market for over two decades and we’ve seen competitors come and go. Over the years we have proved that we are here to stay, and this can be credited to the way we handle our editorial. We have no political agenda. Whenever someone is looking for accurate and unbiased business news or need a credible lead on the market, they turn to us.”
CNBC Arabia’s expansion plan is also spurred by the breadth of its viewership. Regional time differences were affecting viewer numbers as it sought to capture audiences across the Arab world. With studios in different markets, the channel will be able to implement specific broadcast hours for each one. Together, these initiatives are part of the broadcast network’s strategy to transform from a channel into a “network that focuses on the most active economies in the region”, explains Burhan. “In addition to the horizontal expansion, we are also aiming for vertical expansion. After years of producing material only for social and digital media, we are now moving that content back to linear TV. This is a big move for us and we already see an uptick in our viewership.”
The channel is actively re-tailoring its social and digital content for television, and a prominent aspect of this is shortening the shows. With reduced viewer attention spans, Burhan’s team found that 25 minutes is the ideal screen time for any programme. He cites the example of CNBC Arabia’s Din wa Dinar programme on Islamic banking, with its duration halved to 30 minutes as it prepares to return to the screen.
Fully aware of the vast changes sweeping across the regional news industry, Burhan concludes that CNBC Arabia is not daunted by competitors. “Competition in the market is great. For us, it’s a way to look at the mirror and see where we are and how to further develop our work.”
The Newsroom Workflow Efficiency Challenge
An important part of CNBC Arabia’s newsroom gear is a comprehensive Avid solution that enables the broadcaster to streamline its workflows, enhance collaboration and drive innovation across the organisation.
“We transmit huge amounts of content each day and we were spending so much time re-editing and transcoding files before sharing between locations,” explains Shabbir Hussain, Director of Engineering and Operations at CNBC Arabia. “With Avid’s solution, our teams are now working seamlessly and synchronised and we can focus on delivering high-quality programmes.”
An Avid customer for more than 15 years, CNBC Arabia previously used another newsroom computer system (NRCS) with third-party integrations before switching to Avid MediaCentral | Newsroom Management (iNEWS). With the Dubai and Doha facilities as well as news bureaus across the Middle East, CNBC Arabia needed a comprehensive and integrated newsroom workflow efficiency solution from a single vendor so that content could be easily shared between locations and delivered to end users as fast as possible.
Avid’s solutions offered a unified user experience through its web-based MediaCentral | Cloud UX, bringing together scriptwriting, video viewing and editing, logging and access to archive content. Editors work in Media Composer to craft packages for air, powered by the video sharing capabilities of MediaCentral | Production Management, with Avid NEXIS shared storage. Avid ingest and playout servers are deployed in both sites for robust workflows to get media in and play media out to air.
Another key aspect of CNBC Arabia’s transformation was the adoption of Avid | Edit On Demand, a cloud-based platform for seamless media sharing and collaboration, removing the need for on-premises infrastructure in the bureaus and providing a simplified way of creating content that can be easily accessed by both main studio locations. CNBC Arabia uses a subscription package encompassing all locations, giving the organisation leverage and flexibility to upgrade to a better system without a heavy initial investment.
The broadcaster’s migration to the new solution was not without its challenges. Solid support from the Avid team, including sales, pre-sales, professional services and technical support, delivered a successful outcome. Teams worked on the two systems during the transition period, ensuring that change was sustainable and individuals were properly trained. “Our team was highly motivated by knowing they were migrating to a more straightforward system,” says Hussain.
Using the web-based MediaCentral | Cloud UX, staff can view and browse content in either site on a unified user interface and then use MediaCentral | Delivery to exchange content swiftly for use by their editorial teams. This solution also allows staff to view stories in either site and transfer them by simply dragging and dropping. In Dubai, CNBC Arabia’s infrastructure is still based on SDI, while an IP-based infrastructure is now deployed in Doha. The Avid solution handles both scenarios efficiently. While viewers may not notice any change to their viewing experience, the technical infrastructure behind the scenes is vastly different.
Avid | Edit On Demand, which runs in the Microsoft Azure Cloud, enables CNBC Arabia to create, edit and distribute content with ease and efficiency. Its distributed teams also benefit from a sense of reliability and consistency, which is crucial in the fast-paced media production world. “With Avid | Edit On Demand, we now have a centralised process to bring content into the cloud. It has made our lives much easier,” says Hussain.
Looking forward, the flexibility and scalability offered by Avid’s subscription packages will enable CNBC Arabia to adapt to evolving needs and take full advantage of all system capabilities.
