OSN has announced it will add up to five high-definition channels this year as part of its plan to make the network 'HD-only' by 2015. "We will continue to expand over the next two or three years, to convert the entire platform offering to HD," said David Butorac, chief executive at OSN. Last week, the pay-TV network announced it had added MBC's seven high-definition channels, including MBC1 and the Al Arabiya news station.

Radio Mirchi, a Hindi-language station, has been launched in the UAE as part of a global expansion plan by India's largest FM brand.  With the help of the Entertainment Network, a subsidiary of The Times of India Group, the Abu Dhabi Media will broadcast the station over three different frequencies in the UAE. Radio Mirchi marks the Abu Dhabi Media's first foray into Hindi-language broadcasting.

Read More at TheNational.ae




 

Commercial breaks lasting more than 20 minutes are prompting UAE television viewers to change channels. According to data from the Emirates Media Measurement Company (EMMC), the largest broadcasters are showing up to 76 commercials in a single break, prompting viewers to switch channels. The situation is raising concerns for the region's US$1 billion television advertising industry. 

"People leave during a long ad break," said Chris O'Hearn, EMMC's general manager. According to the EMMC, the longest single ad break observed  this month was 24 minutes and consisted of 76 individual commercials.

Read More at TheNational.ae

Sony expects a 15% to 20% growth in its $180 million content creation business in the MENA region due to regional demand for cheaper motion picture equipment."Within our content creation business, we see growth in this region, on average over the last three or four years, of about 15 per cent per year," said Rob Sherman, the managing director for Sony Professional Solutions in the Middle East and Africa. "Next year, we see a lot of good projects coming in the content creation area. And we want to grow that."

Alarab, a television news station being launched by Saudi Arabian prince Alwaleed bin Talal, will be based in Bahrain. It was previously announced that the station would be based in either Bahrain or Dubai. Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, president of Bahrain's Information Affairs Authority confirmed that "the IAA reached an agreement on December 12 to launch Alarab news channel from Manama".

Alarab is set to launch in December 2012. The station is being launched in conjunction with Bloomberg News, which will support the channel's business news broadcasting.

Read More at TheNational.ae

Dubai Airports is inviting advertising companies to bid on the advertising rights for the upcoming Concourse 3 at Dubai International. Concourse 3, which is part of the Terminal 3 complex, will have a capacity of about 19 million passengers, and is set to boost the total capacity of the airport to 75 million. Dubai Airports did not disclose the the Dubai airports' asking price. According to Sami Raffoul, the founder and general manager of the Pan Arab Research Center, "an opportunity like this doesn't carry a price tag of less than US$5 million [Dh18.3m] to $10m".

Read More at The National

According to a survey of media use among children by media agency Carat, UAE- based pre-teens are more likely to watch television or use the internet than they are to read books. Of the 200 children surveyed, 90% said they watched television every day and 65% said they used the internet at least once a week. Meanwhile, only 16% said they read books daily. Despite the findings, a Carat representative insisted that the excessive use of these platforms could be positive."Kids are becoming more and more techno-savvy in the way they learn," said Roxane Negrillo. "Teachers are increasingly integrating the internet and edutainment into the curriculums." 

Read More at TheNational.ae

An OSN pay-TV subscriber who helped millions of people illegally download OSN content has confessed to internet piracy. OSN says it has identified 802 counts of piracy violation, and damages for the man's crime have reportedly reached US $962,400. The man confessed to internet piracy following questioning by Abu Dhabi police earlier in the week. "Following questioning by the authorities, the internet pirate made a full confession and agreed to a settlement to avoid any further legal action leading to imprisonment," an OSN represenatative said in a statement. "The undisclosed settlement amount serves as a deterrent warning to other offenders who are involved in illegal downloading."

Read more at TheNational.ae

According to music industry experts, a regional iTunes Store is being held back because of the difficulty involved in making sure the right people would get paid for their music. An iTunes Store would help protect the Middle Eastern music industry, but the lack of a proper music rights society has made it extremely difficult for iTunes to set up a regional store.

"If iTunes wanted to enter the UAE, they would be forced to spend a huge amount of time and money to identity each rights holder of the music pieces, so they would need to make a significant investment to find out who owns what," said Hussain Spek Yoosef, a music industry observer. The lack of a legal digital music distributor has increased the amount of illegal downloading and piracy in the region.

Read More at TheNational.ae

Sky News Arabia has launched a training programme aimed at encouraging UAE nationals to join its staff at its Abu Dhabi studios, The National has reported. "The media profession hasn't traditionally been one of the most attractive careers for young Emirati professionals to pursue," said Adrian Wells, the launch director of Sky News Arabia. "It's much more likely that they would have been attracted into business, or maybe PR, or certainly engineering."