Whenever you think of broadcasters, you generally think of state-of-the-art satellites orbiting the night sky, beaming their content around the world. But while this may be true in most cases, you may be surprised to know that all of ARY Digital’s UK content is initially delivered from London to Dubai – live – via an Easynet Connect EtherStream connection.

Founded in 2000, ARY Digital is a digital TV broadcaster offering a range of Urdu language TV channels for the world’s Pakistani population. Initially broadcasting one channel for the UK audience (ARYDIGITAL), it has since expanded with another three channels broadcast around the world (adding ARY OneWorld, Qtv and ARY Musik to its lineup). ARY Digital has over 30,000 subscribers in the UK alone, who regularly enjoy its unrivalled coverage of the Pakistani national cricket team.

“Easynet Connect was initially recommended to us by one of our partners for their business-focused customer service and proven reliability,” states Shahzad Alam of ARY Digital. “But while discussions initially centred around replacing our 8Mb office broadband connection, it soon became apparent that EtherStream could replace the satellite link in our service delivery network as well.”

Despite video being the most demanding of all data types on the network, Easynet Connect was confident they could deliver the same bandwidth and much-needed reliability of the satellite connection. ARY Digital chose Easynet Connect’s 4Mb EtherStream service, providing them with the uncontended, symmetrical bandwidth they needed to broadcast their London content to their central hub in Dubai. What’ s more, since their connection is available to them 24/7 (in contrast to the satellite connection which is only available – and paid for – by the hour), ARY Digital gained the flexibility to use it for other purposes when not broadcasting, such as sharing large files between the London and Dubai offices or powering video conferencing applications.

Finally, because EtherStream can be upgraded to deliver symmetrical bandwidth of 40Mb, ARY Digital has the potential to unleash up to 10x their current bandwidth, ensuring they can easily expand their services without having to worry about the hassle of changing their connection. “EtherStream’s ability to replace our satellite connection was a welcome surprise for us, so the fact it can deliver the capacity we need for many years to come is yet another bonus,” concludes Alam.