Yahlive and Arqiva collaborate to boost HD offerings across MENA

Viewers, across the MENA region, with access to YahLive at 52.5East, will now be able to enjoy European TV programming in HD.

The agreement was signed by Barrie Woolston, Commercial Director Broadcast & Media at Arqiva, and Mohamed Youssif, CEO of YahLive during IBC 2012, the European premier conference and exhibition for the creation, management, and delivery of electronic media for entertainment content worldwide.

This year's event is being hosted in Amsterdam from September 6 - 11.

Commenting on the new partnership, Mohamed Youssif, CEO of YahLive, said: "The signing of this agreement will enable YahLive to distribute a broader range of programming content on our satellite and is another example of YahLive fulfilling its ambition to be the region's leading satellite service provider of HD. As a market leader in the provision of high quality broadcast solutions and satellite uplinking in Europe, Arqiva is a clear choice for YahLive as our partner for delivery of HD signals to our satellite."

"The highest quality HD, combined with YahLive's growing bouquet of international TV channels, delivers the best HD TV experience to YahLive viewers," Youssif continued.

John Bozza Sales Director, Broadcast & Media, Arqiva, added: "Arqiva's extensive broadcast infrastructure and satellite distribution facilities have true international network connectivity, it is a simple operation for us to provide HD distribution services across the Middle East and North Africa region via Yahlive. Arqiva will now fully support Yahlive to drive forward as a premier HD location for the Middle East and North Africa.

YahLive provides the highest quality of HD broadcasting services within the region. Through our new partnership, viewers in the Arab world will be able to explore and enjoy the highest-quality HD content live from Europe."

Arqiva provides TV and radio transmission, distribution and media management for the world's leading broadcasters on multiple global platforms. The company's assets include the UK terrestrial broadcast network together with teleports and media hubs at key locations around the world, plus comprehensive satellite capacity, multiplexes and international fibre network.
Arqiva also provides extensive media services through its playout, studios and mobile broadcasting facilities.

Meanwhile, YahLive has benefited from the shared knowledge and experience of the global satellite operator SES. Using SES's extensive knowledge of HD TV, YahLive has developed a high-quality, robust and secure HD TV standard for its services in the region. SES operates 44 Direct-to-Home (DTH) platforms across the globe, carrying more than 5,200 TV channels, of which more than 1,300 are in HD.

YahLive is a partnership company with Yahsat, the United Arab Emirates-based satellite communications company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, and the global satellite operator SES.