BBC Persian and BBC Arabic join Yahlive

 9 September 2014

Yahlive, the UAE-based satellite broadcasting company, is growing its successful regionally-focused platform with the addition of the BBC World Service television channels, BBC Persian and BBC Arabic, from October 2014. The channels will further drive success into 2015, following growth of 140% in terms of channels over the past year, benefitting from the Eastern Beam’s strategic focus as a regional hotspot for Farsi speaking audiences. 

With over 110 channels in HD and SD already broadcasting on Yahlive in Farsi, Arabic, and English languages, BBC Persian and BBC Arabic are joining the stable of in-demand content on the free-to-air (FTA) from October 2014.  Yahlive is also adding radio programming from BBC Arabic and from the BBC’s Afghan service – with a mixture of Pashto, Dari and Farsi programming. 

Through offering customized TV packages for a culturally diverse audience, Yahlive is quickly gaining geographical and viewer traction, particularly across the priority East beam region of the Levant, GCC and South West Asia. 

Sami Boustany, CEO of Yahlive, said: “We look forward to having BBC Persian and BBC Arabic on board, as part of Yahlive’s fast growing satellite platform. Over the past year, we have seen exceptional popularity for our East Beam service, as a focus for regional high quality Farsi content, as we commit to meeting the needs of regional audiences. We continue to select channel partners based on the quality of their programming and offering a selective choice of premium television channels to our diverse and culturally rich viewers across the region, and look forward to seeing the new channels drive further growth.” 

Behrouz Afagh, Head of Journalism for BBC World Service in the Near East, West & Central Asia said:  “Audiences for BBC Arabic and BBC Persian have doubled over the last five years across all platforms.  We’re delighted that Yahlive will feature our channels, allowing even more viewers and listeners to enjoy the wide range of news, business, sport and documentary programming on the BBC World Service.” 

The award-winning Farsi-language BBC Persian, alongside BBC Arabic, are flagship broadcasting news channels of BBC World Service – an international broadcaster which delivers a wide range of language and regional services on radio, TV, online and via mobiles to a current global weekly audience of over 191 million.  BBC Arabic and BBC Persian TV channels have a schedule of political, economic, cultural and sports stories supplemented with documentaries and feature broadcasts. Available free-to-air, these two channels, plus recent addition CNN international (EMEA & South East Asia), mean that Yahlive continues to cater for diverse cultures and interests, bringing on board the most wanted entertainment and news channels for Farsi- and Arabic-speaking audiences. It is expected that additional channels will soon be announcing that they will be joining the Yahlive’s fast growing platform. 

The range of channels demonstrate Yahlive’s commitment to offering and expanding its portfolio of channels,  and to becoming the satellite television platform of choice for both broadcasters and viewers across the Middle East, North Africa and South West Asia region from the Yahsat satellite located at 52.5 degrees East. 

Yahlive is a joint venture company between Yahsat, the United Arab Emirates-based satellite communications company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, and the Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES.