Global media network comes to South Africa IMAGINE A WORLD where South Africa`s television and production distributors (like Multichoice or the SABS) are able to buy any content from anywhere around the globe, no matter how obscure; or imagine the surprise of expats in Australia, for example, at being able to watch Isidingo on an Australian TV channel. Since approximately 70% of the world`s video content touches BT Media & Broadcast`s global media network in some way, the company is becoming able to make integrated connectivity between key media locations across the globe a reality.

BT Media & Broadcast, an offshoot of British Telecom`s (BT) core networking business, uses the company`s position as one of the world`s largest providers of global communications to provide digital media solutions. At the heart of its offering lies the company`s global media network, an multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) enabled IP network designed specifically for carrying broadcast traffic, the media backbone that enables the essential interchanges between the world`s distributed media organisations. In plain English, the global media network provides the bandwidth necessary for large file transfers between servers, an increasing requirement as more media organisations migrate from tape to file.

EXPANSION PLANS

The global media network currently has coverage in more than 70 locations across ten countries, but is expanding, it says, due to the growing need for high quality, real time video content. South Africa is the newest location to have been added to the network, offering a viable high-performance and cost-effective alternative to satellite connectivity into and out of the region.

According to Keith Mathews, country business manager for BT in South Africa, the country has been identified as a key market for BT`s continuing network expansion plans. "BT`s strategy is to extend our media services to wherever our clients need them. We are aggressively and successfully pursuing opportunities in the Middle East and Africa and are extremely well positioned to benefit both BT and its customers by managing the import and export of content on a reliable network infrastructure," he says.

Martin Springer, BT`s business manager of new media, adds: "Growth in the local South African media market has significantly accelerated following the allocation of four new pay-TV licences. The South Africa extension will allow those licensees efficient access to the entire global ecosystem of content, and will facilitate alternative revenue models such as IPTV, mobile TV and HD cost-effectively."

Springer points out that, until now, technological advances in TV were mainly limited to the introduction of colour - and now we have mobile and HD changing the television landscape. Digitising media content has therefore become a necessity. Of course, since South Africa is sorely lacking in competitively priced and available international bandwidth, local networks have been forced to rely on traditional channels to obtain and distribute content. And while the global media network offers high speed and global reach, BT`s offering, like that of any other internet-centred company operating in South Africa, will only be able to perform at its optimal levels once the cable lands next year.

BOOSTING BUSINESS

The benefits of the global media network`s expansion to South Africa will not only be felt by the local TV networks, however. In recent years, the country has been identified as a good location by the motion picture industry, and has been used by Hollywood as a shooting location as well as a post-production site.

"The network`s high speed will also help the local post-production market win more international contracts," says Springer.