Arqiva Wins A+E Networks contract, sells masts and towers

A+E Networks EMEA has selected Arqiva to support its Amazon Prime channel in Germany and the UK. Arqiva  will manage the content processing, packaging and delivery of A+E Networks existing archive content from Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon Simple Storage Service Glacier, to Amazon Prime.
Alex Pannell, Commercial Director Video Channels at Arqiva, said: “This deal marks a really important milestone for Arqiva. A+E Networks Germany is the first customer to use our new cloud VoD solution and its feedback on both the platform and onboarding process has been fantastic. We’ve been working really hard to extend our broadcast products onto cloud infrastructure and have built up an extensive set of skills and experience building on AWS. We see the fact that a major multi-channel broadcaster has adopted the cloud for its content archive as clear proof this was the right strategy to pursue for the future.”
However, not all Arqiva customers are equally happy. Last month, Three UK warned that Arqiva’s recently agreed £2 billion sale of 7,400 masts and towers, as well as rooftop sites to Cellnex would give the latter a “mast monopoly”. Three fears that the sale would make Cellnex too dominant, leading to higher prices, and referred the sale to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).