Irdeto, an expert in multiscreen, revenue assurance and media protection solutions, has revealed increased investment in MENA with key hires and expansion, a result of working with every major pay-TV operator and broadcaster in the region.

In a move that emphasises its commitment to the region and to multi-screen, Irdeto has also announced the key hires of some of the industry’s leading solutions architects to strengthen its offering: Industry experts David Berry, Robert Brown, and Andrew Gayter join the company’s Multiscreen and Media Solutions team from Piksel, bringing with them extensive knowledge of industry trends and multi-screen development as well as experience delivering some of the largest strategic deployments in the MENA region.

Success in MENA is underpinned by Irdeto’s strong customer base, including OSN, the leading provider of pay-TV entertainment in the region. OSN is using Irdeto’s Media Protection solutions to securely deliver content across 140 channels.

Irdeto is also working closely with MBC HD, the Middle East’s biggest media player reaching an audience of over 100 million per day, to support the expansion of its HD and OTT services. “MBC has a very exciting future,” said Abe Naga, Head of Digital, MBC Group. “We look forward to working with companies like Irdeto to expand the landscape of broadcasting and deliver compelling entertainment experiences that enrich consumers’ lives.”

Revenue Assurance is a leading differentiator for Irdeto in MENA. Because safeguarding substantial investments in live sports rights is a top priority, Irdeto provides managed services and solutions to some of the region’s biggest sports broadcasters, including beIN Sports. Mitigating the piracy challenge includes tracking and reporting on content theft and redistribution as well as enforcing the shutdown of illegal streams.

New market entrants also rely on Irdeto to protect high-quality content. My-HD, the leading and first ultra-low pay Direct-to-Home (DTH) platform, recently selected Irdeto to secure the launch of over 44 premium HD channels via Arabsat to the region.

“Irdeto’s strength and heritage in the media protection market made them a clear choice for us. As a game changer intending to shape the future of HD TV entertainment, we required a long-term partner that could deliver a combination of strong security, experience and scalability as well as minimise total cost of ownership,” commented Cliff Nelson, CEO My-HD.

Other key Irdeto customers in MENA include innovators such as ADMC, Al-Majd, CNE, ICHD and Selevision, all of whom are capitalising on the escalating demand for multi-device, OTT and dynamic consumer services.

“The MENA region is seeing unprecedented demand for premium content on all platforms and it is important that operators deploy services that can scale to allow integrated OTT capabilities,” said Paul Hennessy, CEO, Media Group International. “Partnering with Irdeto allows us to deliver the most innovative and proven integrated broadcast and OTT services with a great user experience and reduced time-to-market, risk and cost.”

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