Arabsat to offer streaming service with Tooli
According to BroadcastPro ME, Arabsat has collaborated with Saudi Capabilities Company to use its platform Tooli to launch an exclusive IPTV service as well as an OTT service for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) audiences to have global coverage. Arabsat will make its first entry into the OTT/IPTV space. Tooli will primarily carry Arabsat’s free-to-air channels but is already in talks with a number of pay-TV content owners and platforms to bring their content as well onto the platform with the aim of launching a paid service in the future.
Tooli is considered to be the only licensed platform from Saudi Arabia’s General Commission for Audiovisual Media (GCAM), the state-backed entity, responsible for the development, regulation, and supervision of audio-visual media transmission and content within the Kingdom.
The VP and CTO of Digital Technology at Tooli, Abdullah Mohammed Al-Otaibi, stated, “Tooli is an independent platform and we now have an alliance with Arabsat. We are the only GCAM-authorised service in Saudi Arabia and this was critical for Arabsat. We have an agreement to work with ARABSAT to bring its FTA channels to its MENA audience through IPTV. The Tooli box is certified by Google and comes integrated with Chromecast. The app is supported on Apple TV, iOS, Android phones and LG Smart TV. We will soon be supported on Samsung TVs as well.”
On the other hand, Wail Arnous, Chief Information Officer at Tooli added that the service is truly enhanced for different bandwidth situations across the MENA with the capacity to scale picture quality up or down to guarantee a continuous and seamless viewing experience for audiences. He added that content rights contracts will be maintained with GEO blocking applied in countries where the platform was not authorised to stream the content.
The Director of Marketing at Arabsat, Badih Kanaan, concluded, “It’s all about quality and content delivery. It was important for Arabsat to partner with a company that understood and respected the cultural sensitivities of the Arab world. This platform will launch us into the IPTV and OTT space ensuring that the channels offered on our satellite service as linear TV are also now available through the internet.”
Source: BroadcastPro ME/NexTVAfrica.com.
