In the same way that the Diaspora World provides ships, planes and trains and just about anything with wheels that enable almost any person to search and reach new geographic horizons, the broadcast world can reach each and every person who has changed his or her geographic identityall the while remaining with the one in which they were born.
Savvy broadcasters and content providers realize that migrations and population movementsno matter how large or smallare new opportunities for increasing their audience. The prospect to expand ones marketplace into far away lands, while still remaining loyal to a local audience, can provide a breakthrough moment for a business.
The New Reality
The phrase Glocal is pithy and is now a cliché. However, the phrase really does represent our new reality. Being locally based yet reaching the rest of the world, and for broadcasters, reaching that target audience far, far away, is the most recent trend for the broadcast market. As broadcasters and content providers seek to extract new revenues from advertising, reach new audiences and re-connect the homeland with the Diaspora, it is important for them to know that this can be done easily, with low expense and intelligently.
One of the most important caveats that broadcasters need to realize concerns the sensitivities of penetrating various types of markets. Whether reaching Nigeria, Kurdistan, Australia, India, the Middle East, Bosnia, East London or Somalia, understanding that the right approach incorporates both the correct technology as well as the knowledge that cultural and business operations sensitivities abound. Whether recognizing how to best use the correct types of technical infrastructure that will enable a signal to be picked up by the most people for the least cost, or understanding how best to work with local distribution packagers, are extremely important. It is imperative to have an advisor onboard that understands how to operate in various local environments. This is especially important for small- and medium-sized broadcasters that want to be included in a specific broadcast neighborhood or need to be included in local content packages.
Advisors that can put together an end-to-end solution with a low expense threshold are highly appreciated by broadcastersthese advisors understand technology and culture and can operate in various localities to provide that extra plus thats required for growing a business. For instance, ECS provides such advisory services in researching the best methods for penetrating a market as well as providing the tools and means to reach and expand a market.
The Application Of Technology
ECSs ability to use technology and its knowledge of the markets enables it to reduce worldwide distribution costs. For broadcasters, this is excellent news, especially those from the U.K. or European Union (EU) that wish to engage audiences in Africa. ECS full slate of broadcast services is able to take broadcasters from Europe to Africa with their programming.
ECS turnkey solution for OHTV includes collecting its signal at a London PoP (Point of Presence), sending the signal by fibre to the Uplink Station, and then uplinking the signal to a Pan African C-band for distribution to the entire continent. Using contacts around the continent, the channel is able to locate local distributers for rebroadcasting throughout the region.
Another opportunity for ECS was the companys work with a Sub Saharan African TV channel to build out a world-wide multi-year distribution plan via four satellites to cover Pan Africa, Pacific Asia, Europe as well as the U.K. and North America. The channel has now received positive feedback from all over the world.
Other faith-based broadcasters understand that the Diaspora has sent their believers around the world and they want to reach these men and women with a targeted message. Again, using any combination of distribution services can keep those far away linked to the religion. Thus, a local broadcast sent over a backhaul satellite to a centrally located ground station from where the signal can be sent via satellite or fiber to a point (or points) around the world is a perfect solution for the faith-based broadcaster or content provider. ECS works with a number of these broadcasters, both small and large, to enable them to bring the word of God to the people who really want to hear it.
The hunt for reaching far-flung audiences is a trend that will accelerate as the world continues to move into a Diaspora environment. Migrations for economic, health, political and religious reasons are age old. Now that technology has caught up, ECS is addressing the market with comprehensive and easy-to-create solutions that provide access and links between communities. We see these links as the backbone of world-wide growth.