Grass Valley has announced that Asharq News, the multi-platform Arabic news service owned by the Saudi Research & Media Group (SRMG), has expanded its cloud-based disaster recovery capabilities with the deployment of Grass Valley’s AMPP based Playout X and Framelight X solutions. The move aims to mark a step forward in Asharq’s strategy to try to strength operational resilience through scalable, software-defined broadcast solutions, as Grass Valley has claimed in a statement.

Launched in 2020, Asharq News delivers 24/7 news and business coverage for decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and young professionals across the MENA region. Through its content collaboration with Bloomberg Media, “Asharq Business with Bloomberg”, a multi-platform business news service, provides audiences access to Bloomberg’s global financial reporting network.

The news broadcaster has transitioned from a traditional monolithic playout system to a cloud-native disaster recovery (DR) architecture powered entirely by Grass Valley’s AMPP Agile Media Processing Platform. Asharq initially launched DR channels for its History and Discovery services in June 2025 and followed with a third for its flagship News service in October 2025.

“Our vision is to operate with the highest level of reliability and flexibility across our entire media ecosystem”, shares Omran Abdallah, CTO of Asharq News. “Grass Valley’s Playout X solution allows us to ensure business continuity from anywhere in the world, without the dependency on traditional hardware infrastructure. The SaaS model simplifies management and provides the scalability we need to grow with confidence”.

The solution is provided by Grass Valley as a fully hosted offering combining Playout X services and Framelight X services powered by AMPP, with the underlying cloud-hosted compute, allowing Asharq to manage its disaster recovery as a single, predictable monthly SaaS expense without the complexity of personally managing cloud infrastructure. The OPEX-driven model is designed to eliminate the need for capital-intensive hardware investments.

“Asharq News has been a pioneer in adopting cloud-native broadcast operations in the region”, explains Hany Bartela, VP of Sales for MEA at Grass Valley. “Their continued investment in AMPP demonstrates the real-world advantages of software-defined workflows – from disaster recovery to full-time operations – that scale effortlessly to meet evolving demands”.

The deployment combines Playout X for flexible, cloud-native channel playout and Framelight X for media asset management.