MBC Group, the private free-to-air satellite broadcasting company in the Arab World, and YahLive, the UAE based satellite operator, announced today during a joint press conference held at MBC Headquarters, a strategic long-term partnership to broadcast seven of MBC’s channels in HD through YahLive’s satellite service.
The partnership agreement means that viewers of YahLive, which broadcasts at 52.5ºE, across the Middle East, North Africa can now access MBC Group’s top rated channels: MBC 1; MBC 2, MBC 4; MBC Action; MBC Drama; MBC MAX; and Al Arabiya News Channel, all in the highest quality HD.
The agreement was signed by MBC Group’s CEO, Sam Barnett, and Mohamed Youssif, CEO of YahLive. Commenting on the partnership, Sam Barnett, MBC Group CEO, said, “We are pleased to announce this partnership with YahLive. YahLive is building a proposition based on High Definition (HD) television and aims to attract audiences from across the region. Our channels are ‘required viewing’ for many in the Middle East and the ability to watch them in HD is becoming increasingly attractive. This deal should therefore create a strong partnership.”
“Our partnership with MBC Group is another key milestone in the evolution of YahLive and is another example of our strategic vision to become the HD Hotspot for the region and beyond,” said Mohamed Youssif, CEO of YahLive.
“Ensuring that our customers have access to the number one channels and programmes is of paramount importance to us, and it is clear that MBC’s offering is amongst the most popular in the region. We are embarking on an extremely important stage in our development to become the region’s satellite broadcaster of choice and are preparing to make more announcements shortly, which will continue to strengthen our customer offering,” he concluded.
YahLive has benefited from the shared knowledge and experience of the satellite operator SES, Using SES’s extensive knowledge of HD TV, YahLive have developed a high quality, robust and secure HD TV standard for its services in the region. SES operates 49 Direct-to-Home (DTH) platform across the globe, carrying nearly 6,000 TV channels, out of which more than 1000 are HD.
YahLive is a partnership company with Yahsat, the United Arab Emirates-based satellite communications company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, and the global satellite operator SES.
Samer Marzouq
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