Harmonic, the worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure, announced that Nilesat, a leading satellite operator and broadcast service center in the Middle East and North Africa, with hundreds of television channels throughout the region, has deployed a multichannel automated playout system from Harmonic. Harmonic's integrated media server, storage, transcoding and playout automation solution speeds up the operator's extensive workflow, providing increased reliability, storage capacity and scalability at a low total cost of ownership.
   

"Due to the massive amount of content that Nilesat delivers, automating the playout workflow is essential from an efficiency perspective," said Ian Graham, vice president of sales, EMEA and LATAM, at Harmonic. "They chose Harmonic solutions based on our reputation in the market for reliability and after-sales support reinforced by an extensive reference list. Moreover, by engaging with Nilesat on system design, requirements and operations, we earned their trust as a technology partner, and outshone the competitors. With Harmonic's integrated playout system at the heart of their workflow, they can bring new channels to air faster than the competition."

In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the market for free-to-air broadcast TV services is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.8 percent between 2016 and 2024, according to Transparency Market Research. The Harmonic solution consists of Spectrum™ MediaCenter servers, MediaGrid shared storage, a ProMedia® Carbon file-based transcoder and Polaris™ Elite playout automation system based on Pebble Beach Systems' automation platform. Harmonic's multichannel automated playout system will ensure that Nilesat can take advantage of the growing revenue opportunities in the region by speeding up the workflow, enabling quicker channel launches and reducing the cost to store premium content.