ARY Digital ARY Digital (Urdu: ARY ڈیجیٹل ), is a Pakistani television network available in Pakistan, the Middle East, North America...
ARY Digital
ARY Digital (Urdu: ARY ڈیجیٹل), is a Pakistani television network available in Pakistan, the Middle East, North America and Europe. The ARY Group of companies is a Dubai-based holding company founded by a Pakistani businessman, Abdul Razzak Yaqoob (ARY). The network caters to the needs of South Asians, particularly the Pakistani diaspora. The channel is considered to be a pioneer in Pakistani media and broadcasting industry, and has an expanding network of channels, each with an independent focus.History
ARY Digital, formerly known as the Pakistani Channel, was
launched in the United Kingdom in December 2000 to cater to the growing demands
of South Asian entertainment in the region .[citation needed] It uses Samacom,
a monopolising uplink provider based in the UAE, as the uplink teleport
station.
The channel started off with a format more closely
resembling that of PTV Prime and other South Asian channels where it provided
slots for soaps in general while presenting an hourly slot for news headlines.
Although, flaming political talk shows and dramas were the main priority when
it came to programming, the network soon was hailed for its news coverage.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera was enjoying its fifteen minutes of
fame that rooted its name prominently in the events folding after the 9/11
attacks but when the war on terror came to neighbouring Afghanistan, Pakistan
had no decent coverage and the likes of PTV hired people without prior
knowledge of journalism to be investigative journalists. There was a limit as
to how much PTV could show on their network. Soon enough, when ARY Digital
started broadcasting news covering the Afghan war, ARY Digital was hailed for
their efforts.
This one-screen TV business grew into a network of channels
beaming into over 130 countries, but have not yet launched its transmissions in
Australian continent. The network however, at present, undoubtedly stands as
one of the fastest growing Asian television networks in the world.
The network was successful in acquiring a license for DTH
operations in Pakistan, considered a milestone for media in the ever-growing
broadcast television market of Pakistan. Since then the network started to
commit itself to the continuous development of Pakistan’s media market. The
network now boasts a potential market size of more than 20 million
households.
The ARY Group, owners of the network, announced the launch
of the ARY Digital Tower, one of the tallest media buildings in the UAE. The
project is to stand a mammoth 44 to 45-storey broadcasting tower that will house
the studios and corporate-head office of all the network’s operations. Construction of the tower, overseen by esteemed Adnan Z. Saffarini[5] of
Dimensions Engineering Consultants, is expected to end by 2008.
ARY pioneered and set standards in television programming in
Pakistan and all over the world. In 2002, The ARY Star Gold Quiz Show set new
standards in the game-show broadcast history being the first live show ever
which was offering a hefty prize of one kilogram of gold. For the period of its
transmission, participants won over 260 kilograms of gold, undoubtedly the
highest stakes of any game-show in the history of South Asian Television. Partly due to the ban on Indian channels around the time, it has helped the
channel grow popular by the day.[citation needed] The network in 2005 obtained
the rights to show Live 8 on its sister music channel, The Musik. The channel
also held rights to the Who Wants to be a Millionaire franchise for Pakistan.
Former logo
As most of the network's programming is acquired through
private production houses from within Pakistan and some based in UAE, where
people aren't that much in verse with the latest trends in distribution and
quality, the network began to be criticized. This led the network to segment
its programming into specialized channels whereby, for instance, having a
dedicated channel for news coverage where they excelled leaving behind areas
that needed dire attention on the flagship channel.
At present, the network has four different coverage areas
around the world: ARY Digital Asia, ARY Digital Middle East, ARY Digital
UK/Europe and ARY Digital USA beamed at from the UAE. It has acquired and set
up 1,200 premium-rate lines for its call centres to facilitate users.
Although, its operations involve the mission for the
betterment of the image of Pakistanis both resident and living abroad, the
network has tagged along regional events programming from neighbour India to
boost its ratings. In January 2005, the annual Bollywood Music Awards held in
Dubai were premiered on the networks flagship channel ARY Digital where
celebrities from both the countries managed to gather under one roof.The
awards sparked a new interest in the India-Pakistan affairs regarding media
policies and ushered a new era of friendly cross-industry work.
To further hook users to the box, the network acquired
exclusive rights to showcase all International Cricket Council cricket
tournaments in the European markets. Another deal with the Pakistan Cricket
Board (PCB) led the network into rightful broadcast of all PCB matches from the
year 2003 to 2008.
On 18 October 2007 most of the ARY news team, covering
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's arrival from exile, were killed by one
of two explosions. Pictures of the victims were shown live on the news hour and
prayers were observed. Bhutto was later escorted safely to an official
government house.
Affiliate programming
Recently ARY Digital has affiliated with several other
television networks to promote their content in Pakistan. Amongst these are
Fashion TV for which a regional channel FTV Pakistan has been airing since
December 2005 on the ARY Digital network. Plans are under way for Al Jazeera
Urdu in affiliation with Al Jazeera targeting 110 million Urdu-speaking
households worldwide and HBO Pakistan in association with HBO's
south-Asian division. With the network's help, Nickelodeon is also planning to
kick-start its operations in Nick Pakistan where it would be beamed into 2.5
million households with kids. With so much international diversity under the
network's belt, Salman Iqbal, the global CEO and president of ARY Digital
network feels confident that the network is bringing international quality to
Pakistan's growing market.
Specialized programming
By 2004, ARY Digital had started up three sister ventures
apart from the flagship channel ARY Digital, channels targeting generalized
programming. They include: ARY News, a 24hr news channel; ARY Musik, a channel
aimed at the younger generation featuring the latest from the Pakistani music
scene & ARY Qtv, a religious service. With these four channels under its
belt, the network viewership grew by folds over the coming years and ARY
Digital would often then call itself the premium entertainment provider in the
region.
Programs
There are many different types of dramas being currently
shown on ARY digital. Game shows are also shown at different occasions
Availability
Continental programming
In 2004, ARY Digital divided its broadcasts in such a way,
that each Continent had different programming at different times, to better
facilitate the audience. The Channels were split as follows:
ARY Digital Asia
ARY Digital UAE
ARY Family UK/Europe
ARY Digital USA
ARY Digital Asia
This version of the Channel is free-to-air, as channels in
the South Asia are usually free-to-air . Unlike other versions of the Channel,
ARY Digital Asia, features a wider variety of Programmes and shows. Many of which
may include foreign programmes including Hollywood and Bollywood movies, Indian
TV shows, for example Fear Factor - Khatron Ke Khiladi is one of the TV shows
currently being aired.
ARY Digital UAE
ARY Digital UAE is also free to air, but the programming is
limited to Pakistani programmes only, this includes ARY Digital's exclusive
Dramas and TV shows, this is because UAE's local Channels own the rights for
American and English shows and films.Herrro
ARY Media Advisory Board
At the turn of events leading to the emergency in December
2007, Salman Iqbal, CEO of the network announced along with the ARY Digital
network committee the establishment of a media advisory board, the purpose of
which would be to assess the media coverage (be it news or other programmes) on
the network. Saying that ARY Digital has been reporting without bias for a
while but the recent events ushering the emergency rule and temporary closure
of one of the biggest news network Geo TV, ARY Digital required a better unbiased
coverage. He concluded that an array of government leaders could weigh the
coverage presented by the network on the basis of its rationality and coverage
so that the media portrayed by the network was in verse with the way Pakistan
is supposed to be imaged. The board would have seats for 20 members, each
focusing on different aspects of media would provide their views on how media
should be portrayed.
Criticism
For a brief moment in 2003, ARY Digital received criticism
upon its airing of a prisoner's derogatory comments against the Anti-Terrorism
Court (ATC-3) and a video showing balded young girls behind bars begging for
mercy. The contempt of court proceedings against the officials of the network
were withdrawn after the judge accepted unconditional apologies.
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