London, 1st August, 2013. On 5th August, BBC World News will be offered as a High Definition (HD) feed across the Middle East when it launches its international HD channel on Arabsat. Arabsat will be the BBC’s first distribution partner in the Middle East to offer the award winning news channel in HD.
This deal will give Middle Eastern audiences the opportunity to watch in HD the BBC’s on-going coverage of key global issues, as well as some of its best international news, documentaries, entertainment and arts programming.
In January, BBC World News’ unveiled its new look, following a re-launch from the heart of the BBC Newsroom at Broadcasting House in central London. A refreshed schedule includes a new daily programme, Global, presented by long-time BBC News presenter and reporter Jon Sopel. In addition to the reporting of journalists such as chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet and HARDtalk presenter Stephen Sackur, other recent appointments include Yalda Hakim, one of Australia’s brightest international journalists whose recent Our World programmes on have focussed on Iraq, Bangladesh and Yemen.
Colin Lawrence, Distribution Director for BBC Global News Ltd says: “We are pleased to be able to partner with Arabsat to launch BBC World News HD across the Middle East, bringing our audience closer to the news than ever before. BBC World News HD will showcase our commitment to impartial and high quality journalism, and will showcase our news programmes at their best.”
Khalid Balkheyour, President & CEO of ARABSAT said “We are very proud of the long term partnership with BBC and value their confidence in ARABSAT. We are pleased to be the first satellite operator to bring BBC World News HD to its viewers in the region. Known for its professionalism and impartiality, the BBC enjoys a very good reputation and a wide range of viewers and followers in the Middle East .”
BBC World News HD can be viewed on:
ARABSAT Badr6
Frequency: 11,785 MHz (vertical)
QPSK, Symbol Rate: 27.5MSymb/s, FEC: 3/4
BBC World News HD is available in Asia Pacific and North America.