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AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, media and advertising briefs [AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates](AME Info (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) July 18--LAUNCH OF SKY NEWS ARABIA STILL IN WORKS: UK-based Sky News has said it is pressing ahead with plans to launch an Arabic-language station based in Abu Dhabi, despite the phone hacking scandal in the UK rocking Rupert Murdoch's News Corp empire, The National has reported. "Sky News Arabia is a 50/50 joint venture with BSkyB and the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation (Admic). Both organisations remain committed to the launch," Sky News Arabia said in a statement. News Corp already owns a 39 percent stake in BSkyB. But last week it abandoned a $12.6bn bid for full control of the company. 52 UAE BRANDS NAMED 'SUPERBRANDS': The Superbrands Council has awarded 52 brands in the UAE the 'Superbrands' status, Emirates 24-7 has reported. The selected brands appear in the Superbrands UAE book, which traces the history and achievements of each of the brands. This year's edition includes a two-page profile of each Superbrand tracing the foundation and development of the brand and a 'Things You Didn't Know section' highlighting interesting facts about the brand and its unique achievements. NETLOG TO OPEN DUBAI OFFICE: Belgium-based online social portal Netlog is expanding its presence into the UAE to better support its Emirati members, Gulf News has reported. The portal plans to open a new office in Dubai after in-house research confirmed high Emirati online interest since the all-Arabic social site was launched in late 2008. A survey by Netlog showed that 78 percent of the nearly 700,000 UAE members on Netlog are Emiratis, the company said. ABU DHABI MEDIA TRIMS 100 JOBS IN BROADCAST DEPARTMENT: Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) has announced job cuts in its broadcast division, following a "strategic review" of the department, The National has reported. The company said a similar review would be extended to other divisions, which include publishing and digital media operations. "The strategic review of other divisions in the company will continue and the process is expected to lead to similar changes in these divisions in the coming months," Frank Mooty, ADM's acting chief executive, said in a note to staff. MIDDLE EAST AD SPENDING TO FALL 12.1 percent IN 2011: ZenithOptimedia, a subsidiary of Publicis, has said ad spending in the Middle East and Africa is set to decline markedly due to ongoing political unrest, dropping 12.1 percent in 2011, Reuters has reported. The agency slightly reduced its global forecast with spending on advertising this year set to grow 4.1 percent to $471bn, from the 4.2 percent predicted in April. However, the global advertising market is still expected to return to pre-recession levels this year, despite Europe's debt crisis and economic uncertainty slowing demand in the US and Europe, the firm said. "The ad market continues to recover from the 2009 recession, but growth has dipped this year in response to economic pressures, natural disaster and political disruption," Zenith said. PERSIAN TV CHANNEL JAMMED FROM IRAN, SAYS BBC: The BBC has said its Persian television service on the Hot Bird satellite was being deliberately jammed from inside Iran, Reuters has reported. Eutelsat, owner of the satellite, confirmed the location of the source of the jamming as being in Iran, the BBC said. The broadcaster said its Persian service has suffered a number of similar attempts to interfere with its signal intermittently since it was launched in 2009. In February, the BBC accused Iran of interfering with its television coverage of protests in Egypt. ROTANA AND SONY PRODUCE 3D MUSIC VIDEO: Rotana Audio Visual Group and Sony Gulf have worked together on the production of the first 3D experience featuring a music video clip for Lebanese singer, Najwa Karam, BroadcastPro Middle East has reported. The 3D version will premiere at the ABC Achrafieh theatre in Lebanon. The video clip will later be played in over 600 Sony outlet stores throughout the Arab world. EGYPT BLOCKS PRO-GADDAFI SATELLITE CHANNELS: An Egyptian court has banned the country's Nilesat satellites from providing transmission services to 14 Libyan channels for reporting inaccurate news about opponents of Muammar Gaddafi, Mena has reported. The channels affiliated to the Libyan leader's government spread "false information about the revolution in Libya against his rule", lawyers who brought the action said. AL JAZEERA IN TALKS WITH FRANCE TELECOM FOR ORANGE SPORT: Al Jazeera TV network and France Telecom are in talks over a possible deal to sell the Orange Sport channel, Dow Jones has reported. The Doha-based network recently agreed to pay E90m a year for the right to broadcast two live premium soccer matches a week and for other associated rights over four seasons between 2012 and 2016. Al Jazeera also secured the rights to broadcast French football games outside France for E200m a year. AL JAZEERA-ANSA SIGN EDITORIAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT: Ansa Mediterranean, a section of the Italian news agency Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata, has signed a cooperation protocol with Al Jazeera to promote communication between social, cultural, and economic players worldwide and at regional level. he two companies will exchange news, videos, pictures, as well as the focus on editorial opportunities in the area of web information services and portals. INDIAN FOOD CHANNEL TO LAUNCH IN MIDDLE EAST: A recently launched food TV channel in India is planning to soon launch in the Middle East, Indiantelevision.com has reported. The Hindi channel has signed the deals to launch the channel that will "cater to the Indian diaspora mainly," FoodFood chief operating officer Karthik Lakshminarayan said. EMIRATES FILM COMPETITION EXTENDS SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: The Emirates Film Competition (EFC) has extended to July 20 the deadline for original 2011 submissions, Wam has reported. The EFC is open to short films by established and upcoming filmmakers from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. All films that meet ADFF's submission guidelines will also be considered for selection in the festival's international Shorts Competition. FACEBOOK TO MORE THAN DOUBLE GLOBAL AD REVENUE IN 2011: Facebook has said advertising rates have held up even after it added new ways for marketers to promote products, Reuters has reported. Rates for self-serve ads, which are sold through an automated auction system and account for most of sales, remained unchanged since March, the social networking portal said. Facebook, which gets more of web users' time than any other site, will more than double global ad revenue to $4.05bn this year, according to EMarketer Inc. FP7 BEIRUT SECURES BYBLOS BANK ADVERTISING ACCOUNT: Lebanese lender Byblos Bank has selected FP7 Beirut to handle its creative and media portfolio in Lebanon following a multi-agency pitch, Campaign ME has reported. FP7 is part of MCN, which operates several agency brands across the Middle East and North Africa including Lowe, UM, Initiative, Magna Global, Promoseven 360, MRM Worldwide, McCann Healthcare, Weber Shandwick Mena, and InnovationsDigital. ONLINE MOVIE MARKET TO BE WORTH $4.44BN BY 2017 - REPORT: According to a report by market research firm, companiesandmarkets.com, the global online movie market is forecast to reach $4.44bn by the year 2017, mainly driven by continued penetration of broadband, rising spend on digital rentals, and uptake of advanced 3D. Growth will be propelled by a deep-seated demand for digital content consumption, and launch of new hardware integrated with next-generation features, the report said. BME TO LAUNCH TO FARSI LANGUAGE TV STATIONS: Dubai-based Broadcast Middle East (BME), a joint venture between Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Moby Group, is set to operate two Farsi-language satellite TV stations, The National has reported. BME launched the Farsi1 channel in 2009, and plans to launch a second Farsi-language channel called 'Zemzemeh' - which means 'whisper' in English - in July, to be followed by a third channel after Ramadan. GOOGLE IN TALKS TO BUY HULU: Google Inc has entered into preliminary negotiations to acquire online video portal Hulu, Los Angeles Times has reported, citing people familiar with the situation. Google is making a major push to add professionally produced content to its mix of user-created videos on YouTube, and has hired industry veterans to help the internet search giant make inroads and strike deals. Hulu, owned by Walt Disney Co, News Corp, Comcast Corp's NBC Universal and Providence Equity Partners, offers free online access to prime time television shows. STC, GOOGLE INK YOUTUBE SERVICE DEAL: Saudi Telecom Co has signed a partnership agreement with Google Saudi Arabia to provide the STC's Interactive Television (Invision) customers with access to YouTube, Saudi Gazette has reported. The deal will allow customers to look through all the available video files on the YouTube library while watching and downloading any type of video files that they require whether movies, television series, or any other drama titles for free. TBS ARABIA LAUNCHES CARTOON NETWORK STUDIOS ARABIA: TBS Arabia (Turner Broadcasting Systems Arabia) has announced plans to launch a Cartoon Network animation development studio, Cartoon Network Studios Arabia, as part of the agreement signed with twofour54 Abu Dhabi. The studios have opened in order to support local talent from across the Middle East, and from the already established Cartoon Network Animation Academy, aiming to develop new productions and take the finished product across the whole region and to a possible global audience. US FIRM BUYS GONABIT: Dubai-based website GoNabit has been fully acquired by US-based daily deals website LivingSocial, The National has reported. GoNabit offers group-buying deals to consumers in the UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan, ranging from vouchers for restaurants to discounted salon treatments and hotel rooms. LivingSocial, which operates a similar business model, is the second largest player in the US market after GroupOn. ___ To see more of the AME Info, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.ameinfo.com. Copyright (c) 2011, AME Info, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544) |