November 15, 2019, UK, London:Arqiva, the international satellite and media services provider, has been selected by the international television company A+E Networks EMEA to provide on-demand content for the channel’s Amazon Prime on demand service in Germany and UK.

A+E Networks® EMEA, has been an Arqiva customer for over a decade, with the existing partnership spanning playout and connectivity across Africa and the Middle East, UK DTH satellite capacity and on-premise VoD processing services across EMEA (including the UK). As part of the new contract, Arqiva will manage the content processing, packaging and delivery of A+E Networks EMEA existing archive content in both UK and Germany, from where it is currently stored on Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Simple Storage Service Glacier, to Amazon Prime.

One of A+E Networks EMEA’s key requirements was for the solution to be able to process all VoD requests as close to the cloud-based archive as possible in order to minimise content movement and therefore avoid costly cloud egress into on-premise data centres. Based on its latest hybrid on-premise/cloud offering, the solution implemented by Arqiva is the first to feature a completely cloud-contained journey, where content is taken from the online archive, processed packaged and delivered to Amazon Prime. This not only ensures significant cost-savings but transcoding in the cloud using AWS Elemental MediaConvert also enables Arqiva to process more simultaneous jobs at a far quicker pace.

Another primary factor in A+E Network EMEA’s decision to select Arqiva’s fully managed solution was its ability to integrate the company’s existing Identity and Access Management resources, ensuring the security of the platform whilst allowing A+E to retain full control of its content access and operation capabilities.

Matt Westrup, VP Technology and Operations at A+E Networks EMEA, said:“In a very dynamic and competitive media environment the ability to quickly and seamlessly deliver an even broader range of A+E Networks EMEA’s premium content to our Amazon Prime audience is a real strategic advantage. A solution like this means we can effortlessly build on our broadcast heritage in a viable way.”

Alex Pannell, Commercial Director Video Channels at Arqiva, said:“This deal marks a really important milestone for Arqiva. A+E Networks Germany is the first customer to use our new cloud VoD solution and its feedback on both the platform and onboarding process has been fantastic. We’ve been working really hard to extend our broadcast products onto cloud infrastructure and have built up an extensive set of skills and experience building on AWS. We see the fact that a major multi-channel broadcaster has adopted the cloud for its content archive as clear proof this was the right strategy to pursue for the future.”

About Arqiva

Arqiva is a leading UK communications infrastructure and media services provider dedicated to connecting people wherever they are through the delivery of TV, radio, mobile and machine to machine communications.

We are an independent provider of telecom towers, with circa 8,000 active sites across Great Britain, and are also the only supplier of national terrestrial television and radio broadcasting services in the UK. Our advanced networks support the exponential growth of connected devices and the ever-increasing demand for data from smartphones to tablets, connected TVs to smart meters.

Customers include major UK and international broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV, Sky Plc., Turner Broadcasting, the independent radio groups, major telco providers – including the UK's four mobile network operators – and energy and water companies.

For more information, news and insights from Arqiva, please visit the website at: www.arqiva.com

About A+E Networks EMEA

A+E Networks EMEA is a leading global media network reaching 74m homes in more than 100 countries across UK, Europe, Africa and Middle East. Our portfolio of popular, high performing and creative brands - HISTORY®, Crime+Investigation®, Lifetime®, HISTORY2®, UK free to air BLAZE®, COSMO in Spain and dedicated VOD brands on key platforms HISTORY Play and Crime+Investigation Play - have entertained and inspired audiences for over 20 years; telling the stories that need to be told. We complement our award-winning factual and entertainment local commissions and global hit factual and drama series with innovative talent-led exclusive digital content and top-rated podcasts. We partner with 366 major operators broadcasting throughout UK, Africa, CEE, German Speaking Markets, Iberia and Italy. With offices in London, Johannesburg, Warsaw, Madrid, Munich and Rome.

GatesAir has named Peter Timmons as the new business development director for Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA) and India.

Effective immediately, Timmons—who reports to Andy McClelland, managing director, EMEA and India—will focus on new and existing customer and partner relationships, aiming to strengthen brand visibility and market share region-wide.

With more than 20 years of broadcast experience, including engineering and management roles, Timmons joins GatesAir from Grass Valley, where he served as senior product manager for several product lines. Prior to Grass Valley, Timmons held key positions at Imagine Communications, Sony Professional Services and Harris Broadcast Communications, the company from which GatesAir was born.

According to GatesAir, Timmons' return to the company comes at a time of aggressive expansion across its international business structure. “Under the leadership of CEO Bruce D. Swail, GatesAir has reorganized and broadened its global sales and business development team in EMEA, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific regions over the past six months,” the company stated in a release.

“Peter is an accomplished professional with experience working as both a buyer and seller for broadcast suppliers and systems integrators,” said Rich Redmond, president and managing director, International for GatesAir.

“These experiences give Peter an unusually well-rounded skillset that few in our industry possess. His expertise in business development, sales, channel management and design engineering, among other integral roles, will undoubtedly bring a fresh and dynamic perspective to the GatesAir team as we enter a new phase of global business growth.”

CAMARILLO, CALIF.—IP media processing company Aperi is putting its stake in the ground in London. The company’s second office outside of the U.S.—following a previously established office in Melbourne, Australia—will serve the EMEA region.

Cesare Camparada

Aperi has also announced that Cesare Camparada will be the senior market development and technology manager for EMEA. Camparada joins Aperi with 15 years of experience in the broadcast and media technology industry with previous technical sales and account management roles at V-Nova.

Aperi reports that it has seen expansion of its EMEA operations following a number of customer deployments as more operators continue to adopt IP technology. The company’s new EMEA office will provide support to local users as they transition away from hardware-dependent systems to completely software-based production networks.