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Arabic channels Dubai TV, Dubai Sports join Asiasat 5
MUMBAI: Asian satellite operator Asiasat has announced that Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) has signed a contract to broadcast two free-to-air satellite channels, ‘Dubai TV’ and ‘Dubai Sports’, throughout the Asia-Pacific region on Asiasat 5.
Dubai TV, the state TV channel of the Emirate of Dubai, broadcasts events and activities taking place in Dubai and in the UAE along with local news, financial programmes and Arabic family dramas to a wide global audience.
Dubai Sports Channel, on the other hand, is dedicated to featuring major tournaments such as the Dubai World Cup, Dubai Open Tennis, World Powerboat Championship, the UAE Football League and other important world sporting events and sports documentaries.
Dubai Media MD His Excellency Mr. Ahmad Al Shaikh said, “Asiasat 5 is well known as the leading distribution platform for Middle Eastern programming, as it offers the greatest choice of Arabic content for Arab communities in Asia and Australasia. We are excited to join AsiaSat 5 to further expand our viewership and international reach through its unprecedented coverage across a vast area from Turkey and Egypt in the west to Australia and New Zealand in the east allowing instantaneous access to pay TV platforms, terrestrial networks, hotel networks, embassies and individual homes across Asia.”
The premium Arabic Channels Dubai TV and Dubai Sports are now available on AsiaSat 5 in C-band with the following reception parameters: Orbital Location : 100.5 degrees East; Transponder : C1V; Frequency : 3660 MHz; Polarisation : Vertical; Modulation : QPSK; Symbol Rate : 27.5 Msym/sec; and FEC : 3/4.
Asiasat president, CEO William Wade said, “With the addition of Dubai TV and Dubai Sports channels to our existing impressive bouquet of over 40 Middle Eastern TV and radio programmes on AsiaSat 5, we expand our commitment to providing the best and most comprehensive Middle Eastern entertainment to the Arabic-speaking communities across the Asia-Pacific region”.
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Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
