Dubai’s MyHD boosts HD offering
February 5, 2014
By Chris Forrester
MyHD is a new challenger in MENA pay-TV, and with Arabsat’s help is deliberately challenging the established status-quo. Currently OSN, along with Al Jazeera Sport and Abu Dhabi Media, dominate the Arab pay-TV sector.
MyHD is already making its mark, and is adding two high-value and usually popular channels to its existing 37 HDTV channels. Discovery’s Animal Planet HD and Discovery Science HD are now added to that number taking the total of HD services to 39, and “more than any other DTH/satellite TV platform in the region,” says CEO Cliff Nelson.
The bouquet launched only last May, and its USP is based on being focused on HD, and undercutting its rivals. Nelson has previously said that MyHD has been influenced by the success of HD+ in Germany and is hoping for the same level of success. MyHD is charging the equivalent of about $4.50 a month for its basic bundle (which compares to the $60-$110 a month payable to the region’s more established pay-TV suppliers).