Layalina Productions, Inc. | The Layalina Review: "Satellite TV Expands in the Mideast"

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 13, June 05-June 18, 2009

Satellite TV Expands in the MidEast

Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) is in its initial stage of penetration in the Arab world and is still developing, according to a study conducted by Arab Advisors Group, reports Trade Arabia. As broadband adoption increases in the region, several operators in the Arab world have plans to implement IPTV (also called TV over IP) in the near future, the study explained.

Seven service providers in six countries - Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar and UAE - offer commercial IPTV services in the Mena region, the report stated.

Additionally, there are ongoing or planned projects by the service providers and governments in countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Tunisia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, to offer local IPTV services in the future, Faten Bader, an Arab Advisors senior research analyst, said in the report.

The experts pointed out that a massive supply of free to air (FTA) channels and the widespread piracy of DVDs and Pay TV were the major obstacles facing IPTV providers. This makes the TV viewing experience more interactive and personalized, Bader pointed out.

In related news, the Arab world’s FTA Sat TV channels have grown by 28.1% between August 2007 and March 2009, reports Al-Bawaba. By March of this year, the total number of FTA satellite channels reached 474 broadcasting on Arabsat, Nilesat and Noorsat.

A new 84-page report entitled, “Satellite TV in the Arab World 2009,” was released to the Arab Advisors Group’s Media Strategic Research Service subscribers on May 2009. The channels are analyzed according to their type and content, broadcasting language, main offices, ownership (state owned, private or mixed ownership) and satellite carriers.

"Of the 474 channels, 46 were in test transmission mode. 82.7% of the 428 fully launched and operational FTA satellite channels broadcast exclusively in Arabic. The remaining languages [broadcast] lag far behind the Arabic language. English follows with a 7.2% share," Danya Nusseir, an Arab Advisors senior research analyst, commented.

“In line with the liberalization of the audio visual sectors in the region, the number of private satellite channels exceeds the number of government owned channels: 72.4% are privately owned while 26.6% are government owned," Mr. Issa Goussous, another Arab Advisors Senior research analyst, argued.

The boom in the supply of free satellite TV channels in the Arab region seems to have stifled the terrestrial TV landscape, reports Zawaya. Local terrestrial TV stations are still alive in the region, but regulations and market dynamics have insured that, except in a few countries, the number of terrestrial TV stations has not grown in the past few years.

There are 129 terrestrial TV stations broadcasting in 19 Arab countries. Palestine, Egypt and Iraq lead in the number of terrestrial TV stations, constituting 50.4% of total terrestrial TV channels in the Arab world, according to the news site.

The majority of Palestine's and Iraq's terrestrial TV channels are privately owned and they constitute 83.6% of total private terrestrial TV channels in the Arab world. Egypt has the largest number of government-owned terrestrial TV channels.

"According to surveys conducted by Arab Advisors Group, terrestrial TV channels in the region still have a relatively large audience although much reduced than before the satellite TV era. In Lebanon, for example, 93.9% of respondents surveyed who watch TV said that they still have access to terrestrial television," wrote Miss Noura Abdulhadi, an Arab Advisors senior research analyst.

"Arab Advisors Group's analysis reveals that the vast majority of those countries covered still have full government ownership of the operational terrestrial TV channels," Miss Abdulhadi added.

However, it seems that new media technologies have also bolstered democratic trends in the Middle East, reports PBS. Along with the internet, satellite broadcasting has fostered remarkable change in the way Arab societies, which tend to favor traditional and group-oriented values, engage in open discussions about politics and society.

Arab satellite channels and networks enjoy the freedom to broadcast content that is largely unrestricted by the state-controlled media. Programming on many Arab satellite channels — prominent among them Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, London-based MBC and Lebanon’s small but influential, Hezbollah-run Al-Manar — features frank and sometimes controversial reporting and discussion of social and political issues.

With opportunities for call-in participation by viewers, such programming is threaded with strands of democratic discourse: freedom of opinion, diversity and respect for minority points of view.

Arab satellite networks trend not only toward democratization but also profit, taking into account many facets of Western commercial broadcasting models, including audience demographics, branding and market share. The networks’ ability to serve as conduits for change dovetails neatly with this dual mission.

Produced by Arabs for Arab audiences, satellite programming content often acknowledges and defers to Arab social norms, with self-regulation replacing state-imposed censorship. Nonetheless, PBS remarks that while not hindered by direct state control, Arab satellite TV is vulnerable to supra-governmental checks emanating from the region. The Charter passed by the information ministers of the Arab League member countries illustrates this point.

More importantly, Arab satellite broadcasting plays a key role in democratizing the region as an agent of indigenous and evolutionary change, and as such, is particularly relevant to American interests and policy goals in the Arab Middle East and, by extension, throughout the Muslim world in the post-September 11 era.

The process of democratization is slow and subject to pressures and influences from within and without. US policies aimed at advancing the process have thus far sought to inject American values via hard-power and soft-power interventions alike.

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