Dubai set to have first web channel for auto industry

The Middle East's first web television channel for the automobile industry – Top Drive TV – will be launched soon in the UAE by the Automotive Media Group, which is under the last minute preparations. While the television channels devoted for automobile industry and motor sports like Gear One are limited, the web television will be streamed to about 100,000 customers simultaneously. Speaking to Emirates Business, Dimitrije Simonovic, Top Drive Managing Director, said currently there are no web-based TV channels in the UAE and the new initiative will solve the shortage of automobile TV content for the region. Web TV is the future way for the television industry by combining the web technology with the power of a television set. Top Drive is part of the Dubai-based West Side Publishing, which brings out two leading automobile industry magazines, Performance Magazine and Top Auto Motoring in the Middle East. The web address will be www.top-drive.tv Dimitrije said: "The automobile industry is going through a slowdown, but the car industry is not going to stop there. The number of people who are using cars is not going to come down. People are still interested in motor sports and there is no stoppage of such activities. "Our new web TV will be a new media experiment. It will be cheaper to advertise and there is no geographical limitation on the availability of TV content through the internet." Some of the world's fastest and best modified cars are always seen on Dubai roads and the web TV reporters would focus on the street racing scene and other industry news. To start with, they will focus on the UAE and then proceed to the other GCC countries and rest of Middle East. Web TV is an emerging form of digital entertainment, different from the traditional broadcast television. Delivered online through internet and mobile networks, the web television shows are short-term episodes ranging from two to nine minutes and there are different forms of technology for web TV content delivery. He said compared to magazines of other motor industry publications, which have limited shelf life, a week or fortnightly, content of the web TV can be available for long periods. "There is no headache to get government approval for streaming video through the internet as long as the content is not explicit or adult material. There is no distribution network problem and 200,000 people can view the commercial automotive industry content in a week. "Initially we intend to get video content from the automobile manufacturers and later we will have our own TV shows focusing on tuning, street racing and other motor sports activities too," he said. He said the proposed automobile web TV will also be able to attract major international motor sports like Ferrari 1 race and other activities in the region. The group's Chief Executive Officer, Slatko Mulabegovic, did not give a time frame launch the web TV. The high bandwidth and flexible nature of the web TV technology will help the TV content to be accessible to 100,000 customers simultaneously and depending on the speed of the internet connection, the technology helps to compress the video files to suit faster download. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the daily Emirates Business 24|7 newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .