ABU DHABI // High-rise buildings, and the tall cranes needed to build them, are jamming satellite TV feeds across the Emirates.
With the World Cup 2010 broadcasts from South Africa only a month away, pay-TV customers and companies are complaining about weak signals.
Baiwa Aliyu's TV reception was perfect until two years ago, when he began to lose international channels in his second-floor flat behind the Sharjah Mega Mall.
Mr Aliyu, 49, a director of the Nigerian Trade Centre in Dubai, wondered if the five buildings being built around his four-storey home were blocking the signal between his rooftop dish and the orbiting satellite.
"The [buildings] are very high, more than 20 floors," he said. "One of them was finished last year."
An inspection by Technosat, the satellite communications provider, confirmed Mr Aliyu's suspicions. Tarek Awwad, the company's technical manager, tried redirecting Mr Aliyu's dish, but the picture quality was gone.
"Many, many times this happens in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi," Mr Awwad said. The complaints started after the new building projects, some 70 stories high, began. "In low buildings, they cannot see. The beam is completely blocked." Mr Awwad conceded that he was powerless to help his customers.
"You cannot tell the developer, 'Please don't make your building more high than my building'," he said. "I have so many friends who want to watch the World Cup, and they cannot receive [a signal] because of this blocking."
Tariq Chebaro and his neighbours, in Al Muroor, blamed the construction of several new Abu Dhabi towers for cutting off their satellite feeds.
"It turns out there was a crane that was placed in our direction, and whenever the crane moves, the signal cuts off and you have to refresh it," the 35-year-old Lebanese engineer said.
"I asked the guys at the coffee shop downstairs and they have a problem too. You could see the crane moving, and we realised there was a pattern."
Orbit Showtime Network sent a technician to visit Mr Chebaro. On the roof, they were amazed to find a "graveyard of abandoned dishes". Fareed Ahmed, Eurostar's assistant manager for technical services, said the interference might have been caused by wireless remotes controlling the nearby cranes and crossing the signals.
"Sometimes with the radars, wireless controllers can be an obstruction," he said.
The problem could be a blow to the satellite TV industry, admitted Mike Whittaker, the vice-president of broadcast operations and technology for the Orbit Showtime Network, the biggest TV subscriptions platform in the region.
"Hopefully, we can work around it. If you can't get us through satellite, hopefully you can get us through cable or IPTV. (internet protocol television)."
The laws of physics dictate that satellite signals can be blocked by rain, trees limbs, or even buildings and construction cranes, he added. "If you're living in an area where there are a lot of high-rises, it's quite likely that your signal will degrade."
Careful urban planning is the best way to cure reception problem, with height restrictions for certain blocks, Mr Whittaker said.
The Urban Planning Council's 2030 plan seeks to preserve Abu Dhabi's flat 20-storey to 25-storey skyline, with "selected pockets of taller buildings" to create a uniform character and "prevent a random and confusing pattern of tall buildings without any obvious rationale".
Mr Whittaker gave the example of Sirius XM satellite radio in North America as a possible solution.
"Listening and driving on the open road on a highway is fine, but once you get into downtown Toronto, New York, LA, with all those tall buildings, you can't see the satellite anymore," he said.
A solution for Sirius was to deploy small, in-car receivers to "grab" the signal from a different frequency.
Doing the same for high-rise buildings here could be expensive, he warned. If tweaking the rooftop dish does not work, customers could switch to IPTV through du, or get a larger dish. "If there's a big, tall building in the way, I guess the fourth option would be to move the building."
mkwong@thenational.ae
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes.
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Everton 1 Stoke City 0
Everton (Rooney 45 1')
Man of the Match Phil Jagielka (Everton)
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SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
UAE and Russia in numbers
UAE-Russia ties stretch back 48 years
Trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dh12.5 bn in 2018
More than 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE
Around 40,000 Russians live in the UAE
The number of Russian tourists travelling to the UAE will increase to 12 percent to reach 1.6 million in 2023
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
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The alternatives
• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.
• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.
• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.
• 2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.
• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases - but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.
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What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
Scoreline
Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90 1')
Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners