Imagine Communications Upgrades Egypt’s Rotana TV to File-Based HD

DUBAI—Imagine Communications said it completed a major upgrade of the playout and asset management facilities at Rotana TV in Cairo, Egypt. The project for Rotana TV, which currently broadcasts 14 discrete channels as well as time-shifts and rebrands, reflects continued innovation in the Imagine Communications technology platform which was implemented in 2009.

The upgrade project allows Rotana TV to migrate all of its channels to HD and enables the playout center to operate completely in the file domain. The enhancements enable Rotana TV to deliver output via a data stream for satellite providers Arabsat and Nilesat, and to other broadcast facilities in Europe and the USA. Rotana TV plans to move IP delivery to outlets in Canada and South America in the future.

At the heart of this upgrade are Imagine Communications Nexio Volt servers and Nexio Farad scalable online storage systems to enable the HD capabilities. Rotana TV already had Imagine Communications’ ADC playout automation and Nexio Motion digital media management, both of which were HD-ready. The Nexio Motion media management platform in place provided the functionality to manage and move media assets. For the HD upgrade, the platform provided a file-based environment that included ingest stations both within Rotana TV and remotely at the broadcaster’s facilities in Cairo’s Media Production City. Other Imagine Communications’ equipment, including Nexio IconMaster modular master control switchers, graphics and Platinum routers with integrated multiviewers, was simply upgraded to handle HD signals.

The upgrade project, with new HD channels and file-based workflows, was designed and delivered by the Imagine Communications regional specialist center in Dubai, supported by Systems Design.