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coverstory_cover story 26/02/2015 10:23 Page 2 in some cases – a shortage of capacity. The Eutelsat-Nilesat 7/8 degrees West slot offers viewers more than 1,000 channels, and claims an audience reach that has almost doubled in four years to 52m (from 27.1m in 2010). Arabsat are aggressively expanding (with Media Speed) their Riyadh HQ to handle Saudi Arabia’s desire for new channel growth out of the Kingdom. SES and Abu Dhabi-backed Yahlive is typical in that its new capacity to the region is now finding its feet. Which is not to say that the first year or two, following its 2011 launch, were not a struggle. The initial target market, to be the region’s first “all HDTV” satellite didn’t work out as planned. But also part of its core strategy was to target its East beam on the Eastern Gulf, including Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, and my goodness that has worked well. CEO Sami Boustany, says his platform’s new business model is working extremely well. The extra channels have certainly responded to the ‘If we build it they will come’ mantra. In October 2014, Yahlive announced that it had won support from the BBC in the form of its Persian/Farsi services and BBC Arabic channel. They are now active from Yahlive’s 52.5 degrees East position. TRACTION. Boustany says that channel growth is up more than 140% this past year, and is now serving some 5m homes in the region, and more than 120 channels. “What we have seen is a great deal of interest and traction in the East beam mainly with Farsi services which is proving to be a great business. The channels are not controversial and most of the channels were already being carried on other platforms. What we have done is to provide the Farsi environment and allowed the broadcasters to consolidate their channels onto a dedicated neighbourhood for the region.” Yahlive’s East beam also covers much of the Gulf region in order to reach the Farsispeaking diaspora working and living in the Gulf. “For the time being we are looking to find the best coverage that we can, with the broadcast po ݕȁѡ