Grass Valley delivers a fully hosted AMPP-based solution combining Playout X and Framelight X, enabling Asharq to run disaster recovery as a single, predictable monthly SaaS service without managing cloud infrastructure.
Grass Valley has announced that Asharq News, the multi-platform Arabic news service owned by Saudi Research & Media Group (SRMG), has strengthened its cloud-based disaster recovery operations through the deployment of Grass Valley’s AMPP-powered Playout X and Framelight X solutions. The expansion underscores Asharq’s ongoing strategy to enhance resilience and flexibility by adopting scalable, software-defined broadcast technologies.
Since its launch in 2020, Asharq News has provided round-the-clock news and business coverage tailored to decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and young professionals across the MENA region. Through its exclusive partnership with Bloomberg Media, the broadcaster also delivers “Asharq Business with Bloomberg,” offering audiences access to Bloomberg’s global network of more than 2,700 journalists and analysts.
As part of a wider investment in future-ready infrastructure, Asharq has moved away from a traditional, hardware-centric playout environment to a fully cloud-native disaster recovery architecture built on Grass Valley’s Agile Media Processing Platform (AMPP). The broadcaster initially introduced disaster recovery channels for its History and Discovery services in June 2025, followed by the launch of a third channel for its flagship Asharq News service in October 2025.
Omran Abdallah, CTO of Asharq News, said: “Our vision is to operate with the highest level of reliability and flexibility across our entire media ecosystem. Grass Valley’s Playout X solution allows us to ensure business continuity from anywhere in the world, without the dependency on traditional hardware infrastructure. The SaaS model simplifies management and provides the scalability we need to grow with confidence.”
Grass Valley provides the solution as a fully managed, hosted service that combines Playout X and Framelight X, supported by cloud-based compute resources. This approach allows Asharq to run its disaster recovery operations as a predictable, monthly operational expense, avoiding the complexity of managing cloud infrastructure internally and eliminating the need for major capital investments in hardware.
Hany Bartela, Vice President of Sales for MEA at Grass Valley, added: “Asharq News has been a pioneer in adopting cloud-native broadcast operations in the region. Their continued investment in AMPP demonstrates the real-world advantages of software-defined workflows – from disaster recovery to full-time operations – that scale effortlessly to meet evolving demands.”
The deployment brings together Playout X for flexible, cloud-native channel playout and Framelight X for media asset management, creating an integrated foundation that supports both live and on-demand content delivery. This unified approach enables Asharq to maintain operational continuity while upholding its commitment to delivering timely and trusted news across all platforms.
The success of the implementation is already shaping broader discussions within Asharq about expanding cloud-based workflows, while for Grass Valley, the project further reinforces its growing footprint in the Middle East and its ongoing collaboration with SRMG and Asharq to drive digital transformation in broadcast operations.
