CABSAT has been the largest trade show for the Middle East broadcast industry for a dozen years, attracting over 8,000 visitors in 2006, a nine percent increase on 2005. Though the general impression among many past attendees is that the show has improved substantially over the years, some Arab broadcasting professionals still find the need to travel to other international shows to get the latest on the broadcast industry, while surprisingly, others have not even heard of CABSAT in the first place.
“We don’t find everything we want there,” says Mekki Abdulla, owner of three regional FM radio stations: Coast and Y FM in Dubai and Mango FM in Sudan. “We still have to go to Broadcast Asia in Singapore, IBC [International Broadcast Conference] in Amsterdam and NAB [National Association of Broadcasters] in Las Vegas.” Some broadcast executives faulted the limited selection of products on offer from major manufacturers in comparison to other industry shows. “I wish additional products were on display at CABSAT,” says Nadir Hussaini, director general of engineering at Saudi TV, who will be attending this year for the first time in three years. “CABSAT cannot be compared with IBC, where companies such as Thomson and Sony put their whole line of products on display,” he adds. But Iyad Shiblaq, engineering and IT front office manager at MBC Group disagrees: “CABSAT is very good because it focuses on the Middle East… we find what we want there.”
The head of ART Sports, Charles Balchin, had no qualms about the products on offer, but rather the announcement of the show itself: “I’ve been in the Middle East for four years and I’ve never heard about it. I think that’s one of the problems of the Middle East, they’re not good at publicizing these things.” This is not to say ART Sports won’t be at the show – the channel’s chief technical officer, Alan Constance, attends CABSAT on a regular basis.
Indeed communication among the industry, and within individual stations themselves, could be one of the problems facing the burgeoning Middle East broadcasting business. Out of dozens of regional stations contacted for this article, a total of 11 broadcasters spread over 10 Arab countries did not even answer their switchboards despite repeated calls over the course of two weeks. At least five other stations said a decision had not been made on attending CABSAT one month prior to the opening day.
Nonetheless, and regardless of the level of preparedness or communication among Arab stations, CABSAT remains the biggest broadcasting event in the Middle East and a key platform for networking. “CABSAT is a good dipstick,” says Dubai-based station owner Abdulla. “It’s a good opportunity to meet some of the local and regional players.”
Abdulla, and others are optimistic about the annual improvements that are edging the show closer to an international status from a relatively small regional show. Constance sums up that sentiment rather bluntly: “CABSAT used to be a waste of time but it’s slowly getting better,” he says.

What will you be shopping for at the show?


Iyad Shiblaq
Engineering and IT Front Office Manager, MBC Group

We are interested in decoders, satellite, and all the technology that benefits our work both out-house and in-house. In addition, we would be looking at different products related to HD. All our productions are standard definition. We want to see what is required to be compliant with the HD standards; are we compliant with the HD standard or not? Are we ready to adapt to it
or not?

Alan Constance
Chief Technical Officer
ART Sports

Last year, I was looking for editing suites. This year it’s playout and automation.

Mekki Abdulla
Station owner
Coast FM (UAE), Y FM (UAE) and Mango FM (Sudan)

I would be looking at satellite technologies, repeaters and some content partners—anything to do with the processing side, improving the signal, digital broadcasting and whether we would go straight to DAB (digital audio broadcasting).

Aly Mostafa
Director of Engineering
Dream TV

In general, we keep an eye out for anything that might benefit our station, ranging from acquisition to linear or non-linear editing, studios, playout and satellites. Specifically, we are looking for products related to mobile TV and video over IP since we have plans in the near future to provide our North American audiences with access to Dream TV’s content over the web.

Nadir Hussaini
Director General of Engineering, Saudi TV

We are looking out for what is new in HD, be it cameras, switchers or recorders. Any upgrade to our studios will involve high definition equipment.

Saleh Hamza
Head of Engineering, Nilesat

We are interested in satellite operations, uplink and downlink equipment, digital video and audio broadcasting, HDTV, broadband and data transmission, internet services and satellite news gathering
systems.