Togo-based New World TV turned to Globecast, the global solutions provider for media and content management, to provide satellite distribution services – as well as full IP redundancy – for the recent FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
New World TV is a satellite-based TV network that retained both pay-TV and free-to-air rights for the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The broadcaster held the pay-TV rights for the entire 64-match tournament. In addition, via its partner MBS (Media Business Solutions), it also sublicensed 28 of the matches to more than 40 free-to-air broadcasters across the region.
Yann Madeline, EVP Sales, Globecast, said: “This was a significant project for Globecast, not least because of the value of the content and the amount of it.
“As a result, we worked closely with New World TV and its customers across the region to push them to use Ateme Biss-CA, highly advanced conditional access and every taker agreed to do so.
“We worked remotely with them to ensure they had the correct technology to do so. This follows on from the partnership agreement we announced with Ateme last year.”
Globecast received the 64 match feeds from BT Tower in London via AMP Visual TV to its Serte facility in Paris. A dedicated HD feed was then sent via Eutelsat satellite to New World TV.
For the 28 sublicensed matches, feeds were also distributed via Eutelsat. Full IP redundancy was provided by Globecast.
Redha Chibani, New World TV rep, said: “We needed a partner with extensive, proven experience working across such a high-level tournament.
“Globecast has that knowledge and skillset, working at this level for several decades, including across multiple Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.
“That level of technical expertise – as evidenced by encouraging and facilitating the use of BISS-CA encryption – ensured that both we and our partners were very happy with the result.”
A key challenge with this project was to make sure that the satellite distribution was solid, especially with BISS-CA rarely being used in Africa.
The BISS-CA encryption mode performed at a very high level and this was the first time it was deployed at such scale (40 broadcasters across the region) and for such a global, major event.
New World TV already holds the rights to multiple additional upcoming FIFA events.
Madeline said: “We work with sports rights holders of all shapes and sizes across the world and have done for many years.
“Quality of service and content security are clearly paramount when it comes to such valuable rights and we’re very happy that New World TV recognised this. We look forward to future partnerships.”