Lawo VSM controls Al Arabiya TV news complex in Dubai

Thanks to Lawo's Virtual Studio Manager, the broadcaster advances towards a new dimension of control of the entire audio and video infrastructure in its renovated production center in Dubai.

Al Arabiya, the all-news broadcaster in Arabic, has recently modernized the fourth floor of its facilities in Dubai Media City. As part of Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) is now equipped with cutting-edge production technology, controlled by the VSM (Virtual Studio Manager) emissions control system of Theirs.

The renovation has also included the interior design of all the studios, the editorial areas and the production controls of this floor. In the new look, all functional units are grouped into two mirrored semicircular complexes, characterized by a futuristic design in a full circle. System integration was carried out by Diversified, which shortly before starting the project had taken over the original systems integrator TSL Dubai.

Lawo is no stranger to Al Arabiya, having used Lawo's VSM technology in recent years. In this project, it moves towards a new dimension with a comprehensive VSM system for the control of the entire audio and video infrastructure in the modernized television news complex. In addition, a small radio studio has been created that houses a console Go Ruby with 12 faders that is in service since the installations went on air in spring 2020.

Flexibility and precision

Raed Bacho, senior director of broadcast at MBC, highlights that "Al Arabiya management put more burden on system engineering when the decision was made to expand the news production workflow in all studios, in the design phase the engineering team sought to improve the flexibility and precision of the system that ensures the redundancy of our system and the expansion of the workflow. VSM was the winner that fulfilled the objective by becoming the core of the configuration."

Due to detailed preparations, the project went as planned and was launched when the Lawo project team met with representatives from Diversified and Al Arabiya in mid-October 2019 to discuss the concept and give the technical kick-off.

The Lawo project manager, Bernhard Brandner, is very satisfied with the development of the project: “the modernization works and installations, which began with great effort in November, were completed on schedule and the final configurations at the end of January 2020.”

“La experiencia del equipo de Diversified al trabajar en el desarrollo del sistema de control avanzó mucho en el diseño e implementación del sistema general. Como director de nuestro proyecto Al-Arabiya, pude experimentar todos los oficios trabajando juntos mano a mano para que los problemas no se manifestaran siquiera. Todo funcionó sin problemas”, añade.

Cerca de la finalización de las instalaciones de Al Arabiya, el equipo de Lawo viajó a Dubai en febrero de 2020 para una formación intensiva de los operadores y la aceptación del proyecto. Después de que el proyecto se terminó con éxito a finales de febrero, Al Arabiya salió al aire desde sus nuevas instalaciones el pasado 4 de marzo.

Suhail Ahmed, CEO of Diversified Dubai and project manager, notes that "Lawo's decision was made taking into account the good reputation of the company and the brand in the Arab States, based on the quality of the equipment and service. The reliability and flexibility of the Lawo systems were especially decisive factors. These characteristics made it easy to immediately satisfy any new requirements expressed by our client during the execution of the project."

"We were able to implement these largely cost-neutral as VSM already covers all aspects and we as a system integrator and our client Al Arabiya were very satisfied. One of Al Arabiya's main requirements was also the ability to scale the system smoothly, as the client wants to carry out further modernizations and expansions in the future. With Lawo's VSM, Al Arabiya has undoubtedly made the right decision," concludes Suhail Ahmed.