Launched in 2020, Asharq News delivers 24/7 news and business coverage for decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and young professionals across the MENA region. Through its exclusive content collaboration with Bloomberg Media, “Asharq Business with Bloomberg”, a multi-platform business news service, provides audiences access to Bloomberg’s global financial reporting network of over 2,700 journalists and analysts.

As part of its continued investment in future-ready infrastructure, the news broadcaster has transitioned from a traditional monolithic playout system to a cloud-native disaster recovery (DR) architecture powered entirely by Grass Valley’s renowned AMPP Agile Media Processing Platform. Asharq initially launched DR channels for its History and Discovery services in June 2025 and followed with a third for its flagship News service in October 2025.

“Our vision is to operate with the highest level of reliability and flexibility across our entire media ecosystem,” said Omran Abdallah, CTO of Asharq News. “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.”

The solution is provided by Grass Valley as a fully hosted offering combining Playout X services and Framelight X services powered by AMPP, with the underlying cloud-hosted compute, allowing Asharq to manage its disaster recovery as a single, predictable monthly SaaS expense without the complexity of personally managing cloud infrastructure. The OPEX-driven model eliminates the need for capital-intensive hardware investments, while delivering robust access, agility, and peace of mind.

The deployment combines Playout X for flexible, cloud-native channel playout and Framelight X for media asset management, providing a unified end-to-end foundation for both live and on-demand content delivery, enabling Asharq to maintain operational continuity and uphold its commitment to delivering real-time, trusted news across its platforms.

The success of this deployment is already influencing broader adoption within the region, with Asharq’s technical leadership exploring further use cases within the business. For Grass Valley, the expansion of its partnership with Asharq showcases its growing presence across the Middle East and its continued collaboration with SRMG and Asharq in driving digital transformation in broadcast operations.