myTV is an

Arab American Arab Americans ( ar, عَرَبٌ أَمْرِيكِا or ) are Americans of Arab ancestry. Arab Americans trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants of the countries comprising the Arab World. According to the Arab American Inst ...

provider of Arabic live channels and

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

in North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, using over-the-top technology.

History

myTV, an

over-the-top content An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms: the types of companies that traditionally act as controllers or distributor ...

service provider with offices in Lebanon and the U.S., was founded on the June 15, 2011 by Lebanese expatriates living in the US. The concept was originally developed by SNA Corp. a leading provider of Digital Online Content services for multinational media companies. MyTV provides Arabic-language Live TV Channels and Video on Demand (VOD) everywhere in the Americas as well as Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The myTV service helps expatriates and people-on-the-move feel closer to their homeland, by giving them access to the channels they love, and the TV shows, movies or music videos they miss, straight to their living room television set or mobile device. In response to the demand for quality television in Arabic, myTV secured exclusive deals with the most popular channels such as LBC America and Rotana.

Launch

myTV launched its services through an online campaign themed "Messages from Home" that began on January 30, 2012. The videos, composed of genuine messages gathered from

Lebanese people The Lebanese people ( ar, الشعب اللبناني / ALA-LC: ', ) are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may also include those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains prior to the creatio ...

across the country to their relatives abroad, were posted on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

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 ...

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

Pinterest Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images, and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboard ...

; these social platforms made up the bulk of online tools used during the campaign.

Recognition

In March 2013, Communicate Levant, the

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

-based

sibling A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child. While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separa ...

of market-leading Communicate magazine, one of the region's leading

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

and

media resource Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

, voted myTV as the number one startup for 2013.

Features

Live Channels

Channels currently available on myTV include * LBC America * LBC America Drama * LBC America News * Al Sumaria * Rotana Khalijiah *

Rotana Masriya Rotana Masriya ( ar, روتانا مصرية) was an Egyptian free-to-air satellite TV general entertainment unencrypted channel that was owned by Rotana Group Rotana Media Group, commonly known as Rotana ( ar, روتانا, Rōtānā), is ...

Al Jadeed ''Al Jadeed'' ( ar, الجديد, ''al-Jadīd'', lit=''the new'', en, New TV) is an independent Lebanese TV station. Based in Beirut, it is one of the leading TV channels in Lebanon. It was launched in 1992 and closed in 1997 due to Syrian i ...

* Fann * Safwa * Roya TV * Arab Woman TV * Al-Resalah *

Iqraa Iqraa TV also spelt IQRA TV ( ar, اقرأ ' "read") is a satellite and internet television channel owned by Saleh Abdullah Kamel's Arab Media Corporation. It was founded in 1998. The channel promotes itself as a "Muslim family's safe hav ...

* Taha TV * Iqraa Europe * Iqraa America * Iqraa Asia and Australia *

Rotana Cinema Rotana Cinema ( ar, روتانا سينما) is a Saudi Arabian free-to-air satellite television channel owned by Rotana Group Rotana Media Group, commonly known as Rotana ( ar, روتانا, Rōtānā), is a Saudi Arabian entertainment com ...

* Cinema 1 * Cinema 2 *

Rotana Aflam Rotana Media Group, commonly known as Rotana ( ar, روتانا, Rōtānā), is a Saudi Arabian entertainment company. It is primarily owned by Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal. The media conglomerate includes a film production company (Rotana ...

* Rotana Classic * Al Yawm * Al Mousalsalat * Rusiya Al-Yawm *

Sky News Arabia Sky News Arabia (stylised as Sky News عربية) ( ar, سكاي نيوز عربية ') is an Arabic 24-hour rolling news channel broadcast mainly in the Middle East and North Africa. It is a joint venture between UK-based Sky Group and Abu Dha ...

BBC Arabic BBC Arabic ( ar, بي بي سي عربي) may refer to the Literary Arabic language radio station run by the BBC World Service, as well as the BBC's satellite TV channel, and the website that serves as an Literary Arabic language news portal an ...

* ONTV * Rotana Music * Rotana Clip * Music Now * Karameesh

Video on Demand

myTV has an extensive

Video on Demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

library, consisting of Arabic movies, Arabic TV series, documentaries, cartoons and short films consisting of popular titles, such as the following: * A collection of

Youssef Chahine Youssef Chahine ( ar, يوسف شاهين, Yūsuf Shāhīn ; 25 January 1926 – 27 July 2008) was an Egyptian film director. He was active in the Egyptian film industry from 1950 until his death. He directed twelve films that were listed ...

films. * Lebanese classic TV series, such as '' Insa Hmoumak'' and '' El Denieh hek'', as well as

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as brea ...

s by Lebanese singer

Fairuz Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...

. *

Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum ( ar, أم كلثوم, , also spelled ''Oum Kalthoum'' in English; born Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi, ar, فاطمة إبراهيم السيد البلتاجي, Fāṭima ʾIbrāhīm es-Sayyid el-Beltāǧī, link=no; 31 Dece ...

and

Abdel Halim Hafez Abdel Halim Ali Shabana ( ar, عبد الحليم علي شبانة), commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez ( ar, عبد الحليم حافظ,) (June 21, 1929 – March 30, 1977), was an Egyptian singer, actor, conductor, businessman, music teach ...

concerts. * Several works of the character Ghawwar el Tosheh (

Duraid Lahham Duraid Lahham ( ar, دريد لحام; in Roman transliteration, sometimes spelled "Durayd Lahham") is a leading Demographics of Syria, Syrian comedian and director born 1934 in Damascus, Syria. He is famous for acting the role of "Ghawwar El Tosh ...

), such as Shaqaeq Al Noman, Day'et Tishrin, Hamam el Hana and Wein el Ghalat. * ''Al Shahroura'', the

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

TV series that tells the story of Lebanese singer

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

and explores her artistic and personal life. A biography acted out by pop star

Carole Samaha Carole Samaha ( ar, كارول سماحة; born July 25, 1972) is a Lebanese singer, actress, and performer. She has released six studio albums. Samaha has a Master's degree in acting and directing, which she earned in 1999 from the Saint Jose ...

* ''As the Poet Said'', a film that takes on a poetic approach to the life of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. * Several historical series, telling the tales of

Antarah ibn Shaddad Antarah ibn Shaddad al-Absi ( ar, عنترة بن شداد العبسي, ''ʿAntarah ibn Shaddād al-ʿAbsī''; AD 525–608), also known as ʿAntar, was a pre-Islamic Arab knight and poet, famous for both his poetry and his adventurous life ...

and

Khalid ibn al-Walid Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially headed campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career in ...

. * Foreign Arabic-dubbed series, such as '' María la del Barrio'', starring

Thalía Ariadna Thalía Sodi Miranda (; born 26 August 1971), known mononymously as Thalía, is a Mexican singer and actress. Referred to as the " Queen of Latin Pop", she is considered one of the most successful and influential Mexican artists. Havi ...

and Rosalinda * A long list of

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

cartoons dubbed (Arabic voice over) in Arabic, including '' Grendizer'', '' Sally'' '' Captain Majid'' and ''

Calimero ''Calimero'' is an animated television series about a charming, but hapless anthropomorphized chicken; the only black one in a family of yellow chickens. He wears half of his egg shell still on his head. Calimero originally appeared on t ...

'' * A series of the interpretation of the

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , ...

by Sheikh Sha'arawi * A series of high-profile interviews with celebrities all over the world by renowned Lebanese host

Ricardo Karam Ricardo Karam is a Lebanese television presenter, producer, talk-show host, author and public speaker. Over the years, he has created several shows, series and documentaries, and founded RK Productions which has taken charge of producing all his ...

Device support

As of 2013, myTV has become available on over 300 devices, which consist of set-top boxes, smart TVs and tablets. Some of the devices include: * Google TV devices

Set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of s ...

es like Sony Internet Player TV as well as Android and

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

tablets. *

Boxee Box Boxee Box by D-Link (officially "''D-Link Boxee Box DSM-380''") is a Linux-based set-top device and media extender that first began shipping in 33 countries worldwide on 10 November 2010. Designed to easily bring Internet television and other video ...

set-top box *

Samsung Smart TV Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of the Samsung chaebol, acco ...

* LG SMART TV (only 47G2 and 55G2 Models) * WD TV Live * Netgear Neo TV 300

References

External links

* OTT {{DEFAULTSORT:myTV Mass media companies of the United Arab Emirates Direct broadcast satellite services Television technology Video on demand services Mass media companies established in 2011