''ARY Digital'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

network available in Pakistan, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, North America and Europe. The ARY Group of companies is a

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

-based holding company founded by a Pakistani businessman,

Abdul Razzak Yaqoob Abdul Razzak Yaqoob (7 May 1944 – 21 February 2014) was a Pakistani gold bullion trader who founded ARY Gold in the United Arab Emirates and later ARY Media Group. Early life He was born in Surat, British India to Memon family in 1944 which ...

(ARY). The network is focused towards only

Pakistani diaspora Overseas Pakistanis ( ur, ), or the Pakistani diaspora, refers to Pakistani people who live outside of Pakistan. These include citizens that have migrated to another country as well as people born abroad of Pakistani descent. According to th ...

. The channel has an expanding network of channels, each with an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

focus''.'' The channel broadcasts on cable and satellite networks,

linear television Broadcast programming is the practice of organizing or ordering (scheduling) of broadcast media shows, typically radio and television, in a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or season-long schedule. Modern broadcasters use broadcast automation ...

as well as streaming platforms including

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Channel and

ARY ZAP ARY Digital Network ( ur, ) is a subsidiary of the ARY Group. The ARY group of companies is a Dubai-based holding company founded by a Pakistani businessman, Haji Abdul Razzak Yaqoob (ARY). The network has a video on demand streaming service call ...

History

ARY Digital, formerly known as The Pakistani Channel, was launched in the United Kingdom in 16th September 2000 to cater to the Pakistani community living in the region. It uses Samacom, an uplink provider based in the UAE, as the uplink teleport station. The channel started off with a format similar to PTV Prime and other South Asian channels where it provided slots for soap operas 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. The network acquired a license to start broadcasting in Pakistan. In 2002, the ARY Star Gold Quiz Show became the first live show to offer a prize of one kilogram of gold. For the period of its broadcast, participants won over 260 kilograms of gold. In 2005, the network obtained the rights to show

Live 8 Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 200 ...

on its sister music channel,

The Musik ARY Musik (, formerly The Musik) is a Pakistani pay television music channel, first launched in 2003 as "The Musik" in Dubai by Salman Iqbal. It is part of the ARY Digital Network. In 2009 its name was changed to "ARY Musik". It features musi ...

. The channel also held rights to the ''

Who Wants to be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (often informally called ''Millionaire'') is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and l ...

'' franchise for Pakistan. On 18 October 2007 most of the ARY news team, covering former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

'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.

SD Feed Closure

Since July 2021, ARY Digital has been only available in high-definition. The standard definition (SD) broadcast was shutdown 15 August 2021.

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 ARY may stand for: * Abdul Razzak Yaqoob, a Pakistani expatriate businessman * Andre Romelle Young, real name of Dr. Dre * Ary and the Secret of Seasons, an action adventure video game * ARY Digital, a Pakistani television network * ARY Digital Net ...

, a news channel;

ARY Musik ARY Musik (, formerly The Musik) is a Pakistani pay television music channel, first launched in 2003 as "The Musik" in Dubai by Salman Iqbal. It is part of the ARY Digital Network. In 2009 its name was changed to "ARY Musik". It features mus ...

, a youth-oriented music channel, and

ARY Qtv ARY QTV, formerly known as Quran Television (QTV), is a Pakistani television channel with a Sunni Islam belief, that produces programs mainly having focus on the Barelvi, Ahlesunnat wal Jamaat. QTV (ARY), QTV is part of the ARY Digital Network of ...

, an Islamic network.

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 Digital UK ARY Digital UK is a British Pakistani Urdu entertainment channel, It is the British feed of ARY Digital This feed is available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Europe. The channel broadcasts on linear television as well as streaming program ...

*ARY Digital USA

ARY Digital Asia

The Asian feed of the channel is

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

, as channels in the

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

are usually broadcast without encryption. Unlike other feeds, ARY Digital Asia features a wider variety of local programmes and international shows. Many of which may include foreign programmes including

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

and Lollywood movies, American & British TV shows, for example ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis (writer), Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was r ...

, 24'', ''Criminal Minds: Beyond Boundaries'', '' NCIS'', ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American serial drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield ( Wentworth Miller); Burrows has been sentenced ...

'' & ''

Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi ''Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi'' (''Fear Factor: Players of Danger'') also known as (Khatron Ke Khiladi) is an Indian Hindi-language stunt based reality television series based on the American series ''Fear Factor''. First launched as ''Fea ...

ARY Digital UAE

It is a free-to-air channel broadcasting at the

in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

. Its programming is limited to Pakistani-produced shows only.

Current programmes

Criticism

In 2003, ARY Digital was criticised 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.