p20,22-26,28-230,32,34-35 Euro 50 Crimp-Mockr NovDec08 v4 7/11/08 13:19 Page 29
Digital TV Europe Euro 50 > Leaders in broadband and pay-TV
November/December 2008
Phil Lawrie Director of global distribution, Al Jazeera
Phil Lawrie has had a busy year. Al Jazeera’s Last year’s highlights I think for Al Jazeera
English channel now reaches 120 million English it would be our progress in Asia, with
households worldwide, while the Arabic chan- launches in Hong Kong, Singapore, the
nel reaches 50 million. Philippines and Taiwan amongst others. We
are also proud of our progress “moving the
Age 38 needle” with the more mature Arabic channel,
for example agreements secured to distribute
Education School of Hard Knocks! the channel in France, Germany and Spain to
millions of Europe’s Arabic-speaking diaspora.
Years in industry Nine
Reflections on the downturn It is possible
Job description I’ve been at Al Jazeera for 18 that some platform partners, those with
months and my focus has evolved in that time. reduced cash flow, may be forced to scale back
My initial priority was to meld the distribution new developments. This may affect content
resources of our English-language and Arabic providers’ ability to deploy their services in
teams, recruit personnel and bring the whole some territories, particularly if you’re a rela-
thing together under a new structure with a tively new entrant such as Al Jazeera English channels and syndication of Al Jazeera-brand-
cohesive strategy. This included the establish- that already has to cope with the impact of ed programming to third parties. Asia, Africa
ment of commercial units in London, New York capacity restrictions. In that event we will just and eastern Europe will also see strong
and Kuala Lumpur. Once we were through this have to ensure that we continue to grow growth. Meanwhile, stand-by for the launch of
“set-up phase” attention shifted to delivery. aggressively elsewhere to compensate for the a bespoke digital service or two as we seek to
The remit is diverse – driving the global distri- odd bump in the road caused by the downturn. consolidate our already strong reach via the
bution of Al Jazeera English on the one hand mobile and web.
and a mature, established Arabic-language Al Positive thoughts for 2009 The coming
Jazeera satellite channel on the other; the dis- year will see further huge gains for Al Jazeera. Favourite TV show The Daily Show with Jon
tribution of Al Jazeera Sports and With Al Jazeera English I fully expect to Stewart: news from an alternative perspective.
Documentary channels to Middle East audi- exceed a global reach of 150 million house-
ences; developing our syndication and broad- holds before the end of 2009 and we will con- Little-known fact I was commissioned at
cast rights businesses; and the development tinue to close notable coverage gaps. For Sandhurst’s military academy.
and distribution of digital media content. example, we will extend our audience reach in
Marketing has been key as we develop the Al North America – through carriage deals, the Life outside work Based in Qatar, I enjoy a cli-
Jazeera brand’s profile in the marketplace. simulcasting of live bulletins on broadcast mate that allows me to swim a lot more often.
Last year’s highlights For the first time, we ties of modern life. A lot needs to happen quickly preparing for large scale two-way inter-
had senior executives of the largest 10 cable before customers actually disconnect their active rollouts and many have started to pro-
companies in Europe together in a very pro- internet or television service. They will certain- duce some good first results.
ductive dinner session with Commissioner ly keep looking at their alternative options; this
Reding in September. It was also the first time is why we need to stay sharp. Competition will Personal aims for the year ahead I know
as an industry we had such a strong common be a much more important driver of our busi- my way around on the web fairly well, but
vision on the future. A highlight for me was ness than the state of the economy. there is so much still to discover. The objective
our annual show in Madrid, where we is to learn more, experience new web 2.0 and
announced stellar growth for digital cable TV. Positive thoughts for the year ahead 3.0 moments and do it as efficiently as possi-
Finally, this is the year of breakthrough of Interactive VOD is going to make a real impact. ble. Time still is one of our most precious
100Mbps-plus products in over six countries in If the three billion VOD streams which assets, managing that stays high on my list.
Europe now. We are taking broadband compe- Comcast is generating this year is any meas-
tition to a new battleground. ure, we are just at the beginning of a whole Favourite TV show I loved The Sopranos
new way of watching television. Our children and 24. There are few things as relaxing after
Reflections on the downturn Cable TV is a will soon see waiting for a scheduled show on a long working day as watching CSI with all my
very robust business, and broadband is here to linear television as a very old-fashioned thing kids. But if I’m really honest I enjoy good fea-
stay. Our products have become basic necessi- to do. European cable operators are now all ture films more than TV shows.
Visit us at www.digitaltveurope.net
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