In his first-ever, full-fledged media interview, Mohammed Al Marhouby, Director General of Engineering Ministry of Information, Sultanate of Oman, shares with Vijaya Cherian the technical vision of the MOI, its challenges and what lies ahead You have been associated with Omans Ministry of Information for a very long time. […]
In his first-ever, full-fledged media interview, Mohammed Al Marhouby, Director General of Engineering Ministry of Information, Sultanate of Oman, shares with Vijaya Cherian the technical vision of the MOI, its challenges and what lies ahead
You have been associated with Omans Ministry of Information for a very long time. Can you chart the progress of Oman TV and Radio and share some of its milestones with us?
Sultanate of Oman Television began broadcasting for the first time from Muscat in 1974 and separately from Salalah in 1975. In 1979, the two stations at Muscat and Salalah were joined by satellite link to form a unified broadcasting service. Oman TVs broadcasts are transmitted through a network of stations spread across the country in both populated and remote areas to overcome the natural obstacles created by the mountainous terrain.
Presently, there are 119 transmitters in operation – 29 main stations and 90 Transposers.
Oman TV operates two national channels a 24/7 general entertainment channel and a sports-oriented channel that broadcasts eight hours a day.
It broadcasts its programmes around the world via Arabsat, Nilesat, AsiaSat Optus B3, Telestar, NSS7 and Hot Bird among others. Since 1997, it has also begun broadcasting its programmes through its website.
Radio Sultanate of Oman began broadcasting on a 1KW transmitter on July 30th, 1970. In 1972, a new medium wave station was inaugurated and in 1979, the Muscat and Salalah stations were linked by satellite. The number of Arabic transmission hours increased from four hours a day in 1970 to round-the-clock transmission from November 1, 1998.
The Arabic programmes are broadcast by MW and FM stations spread across the country and via Radio Sultanate of Omans own channel on the Arabsat, Nilesat, and Hot Bird as well as via the internet.
FM English, Classic music, Youth and the Holy Quran programmes are also available on terrestrial as well as on satellite and internet.
When did you join Omans MOI?
After doing my Masters in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from IUT, Montpellier-France, I joined the Sultanate of Oman Ministry of Information (MOI) in 1983 as an OB engineer. Then I worked my way up the corporate ladder. In 2000, I was appointed Director General of Engineering at the Ministry of Information and have continued in that capacity to date.
I hear you are the Vice President of the Arab HDTV Group as well? What is the role of this organisation?
Yes, in 2006, I was elected vice president of the Arab HDTV Group, which was formed by the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU).
The Arab HDTV Group was created to devise a strategic plan to introduce HDTV in the Arab World, taking into account all aspects of feasibility and economy for the broadcaster as well as the viewer. The group stressed the need to promote HD as the future of television for the public.
As one of its first recommendations, the Group adopted the progressive scan as the format to be used in the Arab world, both in production and most likely in transmission. The present and near future projects are to use the 720p format with a migration path to 1080p when the technology is ready to use in the entire studio chain. It has further adopted the MPEG-4 ITU-H264 as the preferred compression standard for HDTV transmission.
All TV broadcasters in the Arab World, Broadcasting Unions, Arab Satellite operators, and equipment and receiver manufacturers are eligible to be members of the Arab HDTV group.
Oman made international headlines when it undertook a major HD project. Can you share with us more details about this project?
The Ministry of Information wanted to establish a new digital TV studio complex in Muscat that would serve its two national TV channels. Channel One is for general purpose programming while Channel Two is dedicated to Sports, in addition to the news section of the four associated radio channels.
The Ministry of Information felt the need to build a state-of-the-art system based on High Definition Television since it is the future of broadcast.
We hope to complete this project and go on air in November 2011 to mark Omans 41st National Day celebrations. The main contractor for this project is Sony Professional Solutions. They are executing the project under the supervision of consultant MASTERS. The key suppliers to the project are Sony, Avid, Tedial, Canon, Studer, ARRI and many others. This project was also a big dream so we are looking forward to its successful completion.
What is the aim of this project?
The new studio complex has been designed to work using the most advanced digital HD technology. We will use a largely IT-based infrastructure and utilise as few tapes as possible. The full system infrastructure will be built to migrate towards the 1080p standard and the entire networking infrastructure will be 3Gbps compatible.
Nevertheless, as it cannot be proved that the full system can be built without any risk or speculation about ready-to-come products, in 1080p at the date of integration, the system will be built to support the 720p standard, over a 1080p compatible infrastructure.
