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Arabsat and MBC Group form strategic partnership

Arabist's CEO, Khalid Bin Ahmed Balkheyour, and MBC Group CEO, Sam Barnett, sign their strategic cooperation agreement on 1 August 2016. Photograph courtesy of Arabsat.
Arabsat’s CEO, Khalid Bin Ahmed Balkheyour, and MBC Group CEO, Sam Barnett, sign their strategic cooperation agreement on 1 August 2016. Photograph courtesy of Arabsat.

MBC Group (Middle East Broadcasting Centre) channels announced on 1 August 2016 the transition of its Gulf channels and MBC Pro Sports Channels to Arabsat through a strategic partnership signed with Arabsat today. The partnership aims to establish a new era of family TV entertainment reinforcing high quality viewership. While the transition of some channels will be exclusive to Arabsat, the next stages will focus on providing sophisticated reliable receivers, enabling viewers to experience the best in modern TV.

Khalid Bin Ahmed Balkheyour, Arabsat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) stated: “We are pleased with this partnership between Arabsat and MBC Group; it is proof that the media industry is progressing in the right direction.” Balkheyour reiterated the benefits of this collaboration: “Most important is the protection of Intellectual Property Rights in the region through our commitment to prohibiting any channel from broadcasting pirated content, and so ultimately protecting and serving the Arab viewers’ interest.”

Arabsat initiated new High Definition (HD) technology several years ago in collaboration with Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU) with the aim of improving the HD quality and growing it in the Arab world.

Sam Barnett, MBC Group CEO said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Arabsat and progressively, we will be moving our Gulf focused channels exclusively onto Arabsat.” Barnett added, “Arabsat enjoys high viewership in general and in the GCC in particular and we’re sure that the addition of more exclusive MBC channels will boost Arabsat’s penetration further.”

Most immediately this partnership sees the return of the Saudi Football League to Arabsat. MBC PRO SPORTS will broadcast on Arabsat as of Monday 8th August during the live broadcast of the Saudi Super Cup between Al Ahli and Al Hilal taking place in London.

MBC Group is the largest and leading private media company in the Middle East and North Africa region. For the past 25 years, MBC Group was able to enrich people’s lives through information, interaction and entertainment. In 2002, nearly a decade after the launch of MBC1 in London, back in 1991, and as the first private free-to-air Arab satellite TV channel, MBC Group moved its headquarters to Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates, where it remains.

Original published at: http://spacewatchme.com/2016/08/arabsat-mbc-group-form-strategic-partnership/

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