Sky-Stream Brings On-demand Programming to Middle East and Africa

Customers in even remote sections of the Middle East and Africa will soon be able to access on-demand video programming, thanks to new IPTV service from Sky-Stream.

Sky-Stream is a Dubai-based provider of connectivity and satellite service solutions. The company is launching IPTV streaming service over the iDirect platform. iDirect is run by VT iDirect, which is part of VT Systems, Inc., of Alexandria, Virginia, in the United States. VT Systems is an engineering company that provides integrated solutions to the commercial and government markets in the aerospace, electronics, land systems, and marine sectors.

Sky-Stream's IPTV service will offer movies, news, and sports content through the Apple TV set-top box. This is an expansion of Sky-Stream's existing VoIP and Internet service, which is used by military and civil defense customers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and parts of Africa.

This new service is powered by iDirect's satellite platform. It includes built-in TCP acceleration on an IP-based system for fast download speeds. Movies will generally download in five minutes, the company says. The company is hoping to attract new customers working in isolated areas in the maritime and oil and gas sectors.

"In developing a TV-streaming service for the Middle East, it was critical that we were able to reach any location and provide on-demand access to a variety of bandwidth-intensive content at broadband speeds. Delivering the service over satellite solved the first requirement, but not necessarily the second. iDirect's platform offers us what other satellite platforms couldn't: high-quality, high-speed downloads that meet our customers' expectations," says Riyadh Al Adely, general manager for Sky-Stream.