''ARY Digital HD'' () is a Pakistani television network available in
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. ARY Digital was founded by a
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
-based holding company 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 ...
and
Salman Iqbal
Salman Iqbal () is a Pakistani media businessman and media mogul. He became the CEO of ARY Digital Network and ARY Group in 2014 after the death of his uncle Abdul Razzak Yaqoob who was the publisher of Newsweek Middle East.
He is the owner of ...
(ARY). The network is focused towards on Pakistani entertainment dramas, sitcoms, talk shows, web series and culture.
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 automatio ...
as well as streaming platforms including
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
Channel and
ARY ZAP
ARY Digital Network () 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 called ...
.
History
ARY Digital, formerly known as The Pakistani Channel, was launched in the United Kingdom on 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.
Specialized programming
By 2003, ARY Digital had started up three sister ventures apart from the flagship channel ARY Digital, channels targeting generalized programming. They include
ARY News
''ARY News HD'' () is a Pakistani news channel launched on 26 September 2004 with the name "ARY One", the channel was later renamed to "ARY One World" until May 2009 when it was rebranded as "ARY News". A bilingual news channel in English and ...
, a news channel;
ARY Musik
ARY Musik HD (, formerly The Musik) is a Pakistani pay television music channel, first launched in August 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 featu ...
, a youth-oriented music channel, and
ARY Qtv
ARY QTV HD, formerly known as Quran Television (QTV), is a Pakistani television channel with a Sunni Islam belief, that produces programs mainly having focus on the Ahlesunnat wal Jamaat. QTV is part of the ARY Digital Network of Pakistan.
T ...
, an Islamic network.
Programming
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.
See also
*
ARY Films
ARY Films () is a film distribution and production company in Pakistan, part of ARY Digital Network. 35 films including 11 Urdu, six Punjabi and 17 Pashto films have been released by ARY Films since 2013. Among them, '' Waar'', ''Jawani Phir ...
*
List of Pakistani television series
This is a list of Pakistani dramas. The programs are organised alphabetically.
A
* ''Aankh Salamat Andhay Log''
* ''Aahista Aahista'' (2014, Hum TV)
* ''Aangan Terha'' (1980s, Pakistan Television Corporation, PTV)
* ''Aangan (2018 TV series), ...