Founding

 Membership registration

 Survey on HDTV Services Introduction in the Arab Region

 Founding

Tunis 1.1.2008, In its founding meeting last November in Tunis, the Arab HDTV Group has met for the first time to lay down its bylaws and  start conducting its business. A working Group was created from four members to devise a strategic plan to introduce HDTV in the Arab World taking into account all aspects of feasibility and economy for the broadcaster as well as the viewer. The draft plan is to be ready by end of February 2008 when it will be circulated to members for comments. The group stressed the need to promote the HDTV system for the public being the future of television. To that end, it has asked ASBU, which takes care of the Group Secretariat, to produce a printed leaflet and a TV sting in Arabic so that the Arab viewer is aware of the system advantages and what is required to receive it.

As one of its first recommendations, the Group has adopted the progressive scan as the format to be used in the Arab world, both in production and most likely in transmission. The present and near future projects are to use the 720p format with a migration path to 1080p when the technology is ready use it in the entire studio chain. It has further adopted the MPEG-4 ITU-H264 as the preferred compression standard for HDTV transmission.

The Group elected in its first meeting Dr. Riyadh Najm from Saudi Arabia as a Chair, and Mr. Muhammed Marhoubi from Oman and a representative from EBU as two Vice-Chairs. They will serve for a three-year term. All TV Broadcasters in the Arab World, Broadcasting Unions, Arab Satellite Operators and equipment and receiver manufacturers are eligible to be members of the Arab HDTV group. All its business will be conducted by E-mail, mainly in English, while it will hold one annual meeting.

ASBU will soon approach all eligible organizations and invite them to become members of the Group by expressing their interest to do so and naming their representative(s); therefore becoming “registered members”.

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 Group Bylaws 

 1.Group Working Procedures
The Group will mainly conduct its business by e-mail and it will hold one annual meeting. The date and place of the meeting will be decided by the Group Chair and its Secretariat.

 2.Group Secretariat
ASBU will take care of the Group Secretariat.

 3.Group Membership

• ASBU members
• Other TV Channels and Networks in the Arab Region
• International HDTV Channels from outside the Region (as observers)
• World Broadcasting Unions
• HDTV Transmission Equipment Manufacturers
• HDTV Production Equipment Manufacturers
• HDTV Receiver Manufacturers
• Arabsat and Nilesat
• Related International and Regional Organizations.

Each member will be asked to nominate one or two representatives to follow the Group activities and participate in its meetings. The Group Secretariat (ASBU) should be notified by the coordinates (e-mail, phone, address) of each member representative(s).

 4.Registered Member
The TV channel or Network, Organization, or company that expresses its interest to be a member, should nominate its representative(s) and provide his/her/their coordinate(s) to the Group Secretariat.

 5.Level of Membership
All the members (except observers) have the same level of rights and obligations including voting.

 6.Chairmanship
The Group will elect from its members one Chair and two Vice-Chairs, for a maximum of two terms. The duration of each term is three years.

 7.Working Language
As the Group membership is open to international members, the working language is English. The Group will issue, as well, its output documents in Arabic.

 8.Income and Membership Fees
The membership is free for the broadcasters and participating organizations. The manufacturers shall pay an annual fee of 5000 Euro. The Group may invite as well sponsors to support certain Group activities.

 9.Recommendations
The Group Members are advised to apply all recommendations issued by the Group when implementing HDTV in the Arab Region. Manufacturers who are members of the Group shall not promote opposing recommendations to the Group members.
 
 10.Voting Power
The Group recommendations are to be passed by consensus. If there is no consensus, the recommendation is valid if a two-third majority supports it. Each member has one vote. If an issue requires approval, the members shall send their response within two weeks from the date issuing the request. No answer within that period is considered as consent.

 11.Meeting Quorum
The Group meeting shall be valid if more than half of the registered members are present.

Election of the Group Chair and Vice Chairs

The Group elected Dr. Riyadh Najm from Saudi Arabia as a Chair and Mr. Mohammed Marhoubi from Oman as the first Vice-Chair and David Wood from EBU as the second Vice-Chair. They will serve for a three year term as of 1/1/2008.

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 Membership registration for the Arab HDTV Group

To join membership of the Arab HDTV Group, please fill in the following forms:

     For Manufacturers, software editors and system integrators: 

             Registration Form 

             Registration Form 

     For all Others:

             Registration Form 

             Registration Form 

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 Survey on HDTV Services Introduction in the Arab Region

ASBU is conducting a survey about introducing HDTV services in the Arab region, you are kindely invited to fill in the following survey (available in arabic only):  

              HDTV Survey 2009  

              HDTV Survey 2009      

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