Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) is gearing up to launch the 22nd edition of the Arab Broadcasting Festival in Riyadh, from 7 to 10 November, to be organized by the Saudi Broadcasting Authority, with the participation of more than 1,000 media professionals, and an estimated audience of more than 5,000 people. Since its inception per Arab League Resolution No. 1100, ASBU has supervised five major projects to become a witness to its pivotal role in the Arab region, an indication of strengthening ties and cooperation between audio/video stations in Arab countries and developing their production. The first projects of the Union emerged by establishing the cloud platform (Aspo Cloud), which consists of highly protected servers on global cloud networks and high-speed Internet connections, through which many applications and services are provided that can be used in the audio-visual and informational field, namely conducting content exchanges in the form of Live broadcasts or files with editorial information. ASBU also provided digital television, which consists of (5) high-definition (HD) exchange channels, full coverage of the Arab region, most of Europe, and parts of Asia, where reservations are required to use these channels in advance through the coordination department of the Arab News and Programs Exchange Centre via the center's website, or through direct communication using various means of communication. The third project contains the MINOS platform (ASPO-MINOS), which is a system for multi-media exchange and services via satellite, which was launched in early January 2009, to enable execution reservations automatically, through application interface software, which facilitates the process of exchanges and increases its reliability, it also provides additional services such as coordination phones, audio conferencing, centralized content storage system, monitoring, and control interfaces, upgrades using new software and remote maintenance of terminals. The MENOS system was recently developed into MENOS Plus, by applying the latest technologies in satellite connectivity, content-encoding, modulation, and network topology, which saved about 50% of the capacities used in the MENOS system. It was employed to increase TV exchange channels with a high-definition system (HD), and also promoted high-definition television exchange and direct connection between terminals optimally and economically. In early 2018, the Unified Arab TV Package was launched as one of its projects implemented and supervised by ASBU and Arabsat, where the number of Arab satellite channels of the United Arab World Package reached 21 channels. This project is considered one of the greatest successes achieved in joint Arab work in the radio and television field, given the great practical, technical, economic, and strategic benefits, it achieves for the satellite channels participating in the package, as well as for the Arab viewer in the various coverage areas of the package on a global scale. Believing in the importance of training, ASBU launched the Media Training Academy project to rehabilitate human resources in all disciplines of its member bodies. It contains a high-definition television studio, a radio studio designed with IP technology, a multimedia editing room equipped with a digital computer network, and a multidisciplinary training hall, offices, and complementary spaces such as rooms for interpretation, sound recording, and montage. It is expected that the Kingdom's hosting of this major media gathering will contribute to demonstrating the economic and development renaissance it is witnessing, highlighting the tourist areas and the qualitative value of the infrastructure for effective investment and attractive fruitful opportunities, in addition to deepening relations and enhancing cooperation with active regional organizations in the media industry.
