Sky News Arabia Picks Blackbird for Remote Video Editing, Publishing

Blackbird has been chosen by Sky News Arabia for remote and collaborative cloud video editing and publishing of digital news content. Sky News Arabia is a 24-hour Arabic news channel broadcast across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

With a free-to-air TV channel, digital and audio platforms, Sky News Arabia delivers analysis of both news from the Middle East and North Africa region and international news. The channel is broadcast to more than 50 million households in the MENA region.

Sky News Arabia will use Blackbird to drive major video production efficiencies across a number of key workflows. Sky News Arabia’s multi-site production teams in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and other locations will be able to collaboratively and remotely edit and publish news content live to social platforms including YouTube for its 1.25 million subscribers to view.

“Sky News Arabia operates one of the most progressive newsrooms in the Middle East and Blackbird will empower our multi-site production teams to work collaboratively in the cloud with a rich suite of video editing and publishing tools,” says Sky News Arabia Director of Technology, Suresh Kumar. “The adoption of this platform supports our drive to continuously use technology and innovation to enhance our screens and digital platforms.”

Production staff will utilize Blackbird’s market-leading suite of professional video editing tools such as multi video and audio tracks, graphic effects, color correction, transitions, and voice over to enrich content. Editorial approval will be a key feature of the workflow, ensuring content quality and accuracy. Blackbird will also be used by Sky News Arabia to repurpose the network’s output through the editing and publishing of file-based video content.

“We are delighted to begin a relationship with one of the world’s most respected news brands and a market leader in the Middle East and North Africa region,” says Blackbird’s CEO, Ian McDonough. “As Sky News Arabia is a multi-site operation with a product of the highest quality, Blackbird is the perfect choice. The power and sophistication of the Blackbird editing suite combined with the simple and elegant scalability of our architecture means Sky News Arabia has a world class solution that can also be expanded quickly and cost effectively when required.”

Blackbird drives awareness, reach, and monetization for brands in the sports, esports, news, and entertainment sectors. Customers include IMG, Deltatre, Peloton, A+E Networks, Eleven Sports, Riot Games, NHL, the U.S Department of State and 50 local US news stations with TownNews.