Al Arabiya, a 24/7 free-to-air news and current affairs satellite outlet, recently launched its high definition (HD) live Internet stream free to its viewers around the world.

Developed and operated by arvato mobile, a provider of digital entertainment content, the service offers the first of its kind in the region, standard Flash stream in combination with an automatically adjusting HD-stream, a statement said.

The adaptive bit rate technology dynamically changes bitrates based on the individual Internet-connection and therefore ensures that end users always get the best possible streaming experience.

In the same instance, the Al Arabiya HD-Stream still runs smoothly when standard streams would normally buffer or break, the statement added.

“This feature is extremely helpful as it enables us to provide the best picture quality to high speed internet users around the world and in parallel helps Al Arabiya to overcome problems caused by limited broadband Internet access which is still a common issue for the Mena region,” said Nasser Alsarami, head of media at Al Arabiya.

“The high number of unique users clearly shows the success of our high quality- and user-friendly concept,” he added.

“We are very proud to provide the live streaming services to Al Arabiya, therefore enabling millions of Arabs around the world to watch the news channel live on the Internet”, said Ingo Lalla, vice president IPTV and platform services at arvato mobile.

“Without any additional investments we can even increase the live-stream up to broadcast quality which gives Al Arabiya the ability to adjust the service when internet speed and  - as a result - viewers’ demand in picture quality will grow further”, he added.

Additionally, the instant-catch-up service offers users the option of scrolling back up to 24hours, watching contents they have previously missed.

The service has been tested in a pilot phase over the past four months during which a tremendous user adoption rate coupled with hundreds of thousands of streams each month could be recognised, the statement said. – TradeArabia News Service