According to a recent report released by Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), the number of satellite channels in the region now stands at more than 1200. The report also found there has been an expansion in the geographical coverage of Arab satellite broadcasting, which now extends to Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. The number of Arab organisations broadcasting […]
According to a recent report released by Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), the number of satellite channels in the region now stands at more than 1200. The report also found there has been an expansion in the geographical coverage of Arab satellite broadcasting, which now extends to Australia, New Zealand and the Americas.
The number of Arab organisations broadcasting or re-broadcasting satellite channels stands at 758, including 29 publicly-owned ones and 729 which are privately owned. Between them, they transmit 165 public and 1129 private channels in multiple languages, covering a variety of genres.
The report attributes the rise in the number of public channels during 2014 mostly to the return of Libyan TV channels that had disappeared with the revolution plus the creation of more generic channels, especially sports ones, from the public sector.
“The current boom has been brought about mostly thanks to the private sector. Various factors have helped the proliferation of channels, such as the growing role of the private sector, technology developments and digital satellite broadcasting that offered unlimited opportunities, low-cost access and wide prospects for development,” said a statement from ASBU.
Sports is the most popular type of specialised satellite channel in the region, with 170 sports channels on offer, while drama channels (comprising TV series and movies) registered at 152, followed by music and variety shows (124), religious channels (95), news (68) and children’s TV (26).
Most regionally-based satellite channels operate in Arabic, although 161 channels transmit in English, 25 in French, 19 in Urdu, nine in Kurdish, four in Persian and two in Hebrew. Farsi, Hindi, Spanish and Turkish, are also used, while Amazeegh, Urdu, Hassani, and Berber are used to reach minority target audiences.
