GlobeCast adding Jordanian teleport?
September 21, 2011
By Chris Forrester
Only a few days after GlobeCast confirmed it had added the Tecnopolo Tiburtino, Rome, technical facility and Earth Station to its list of uplink assets comes news that it is in advanced negotiations to buy Amman’s Jordan Media City from Sheikh Salah Kamel. The rumoured price is around $150 million, although this figure has not been confirmed.
The Tecnopolo site replaces GlobeCast’s previous facility in the region. Commercial terms were not revealed. GlobeCast’s new teleport will offer content management and distribution services via satellite and fibre — notably addressing the growing DTH and DTT markets in the region — as well as contribution, ad-hoc services, and corporate applications.
Based in the newly developed area of Tecnopolo Tiburtino, the new teleport is fully connected to GlobeCast’s GCBN worldwide fiber backbone and houses one of Rome’s two points of presence on this network. The teleport offers a master control room entirely staffed 24/7 with satellite and fibre operations specialists, and boasts direct fiber connectivity with major Italian broadcasters and content providers including RAI, Mediaset, Sky Italia, Gruppo l’Espresso, RTL 102.5, Telepace, FOX, and Supertennis.
As far as Jordan Media City is concerned, we understand that Sheikh Salah Kamel will retain a 25 per cent holding. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. Sheikh Salah has spent the past year or two exiting many of his former significant Arab media and broadcasting interests.