Tuesday, 13 November 2012

The Spread Of Arabic TV Channels

By Crystal Salazar


There are just a few cases where most of the television systems are government owned and controlled. One of those cases is Arabic TV system. The main reason for this situation is the fact that it is seen as a potential political instrument because of its influence on the most of population.

During the 1950s, broadcasting underwent in Lebanon and Iraq, and started to be more and more popular among population. So, in the next ten years, thirteen other Arab countries followed this trend. But, in 1975, all Arab countries came to have its television stations when North Yemen introduced it.

Although, much before 1950s Arab audience was exposed to television. Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia are few of the countries where French language is widespread. So, that group of population could watch some French channels across Mediterranean. Other source of TV channels U. S. Military base in Libya, as well as the ARAMACO, or Arabian American Oil Company, in eastern Saudi Arabia where population could watch U. S. Television channels.

To understand this situation of government controlling the media, we need to be familiar with reasons. There are two main reasons. First one, government wanted to strength nation state building and to express nationalism during the period after the World War II. They saw a television as a good tool for doing so because of its influence on the huge number of population. Other reason was the fact that there was not a lot of profit for commercial investors because commercial advertising was limited.

However, regional television is having a significant growth in the last few years. There are more and more television viewers. Broadcasters are trying to make add some innovations to their programming because of the rivals in the market. The best way for them to make it is television series which have the highest ownership and profit.

Yet, new trends are emerging in Middle East television. So, television channels should provide high quality programming, only to survive in market. Challenging situation are prices which are increasing more and more.

There are three most viewed TV channels. Those are Abu Dhabi TV, Kuwait TV and Saudi Arabian TV. Abu Dhabi TV is known for its high quality Arabic language broadcasted. It offers a lots of television entertainment to Arab Americans in United States. Kuwait TV is popular because of its family programming which provides environment for quality family viewing. Providing great social, political and economical programs is the best side of Arabian TV. Al Quran Al karim and Voice of the Kingdom are also included in the service of Arabian TV. Other popular channels are Dubai TV, Syria Satellite Channel, Jordan Satellite, Ana TV, Iraq TV, Palestinian Satellite, etc.

There are a lot of challenges and opportunities for Arab broadcasters because of the changing trends in Arabic TV. Progressive players with resources and abilities to invest and follow the trends will bring huge benefits. This will be a big challenge for everyone, including the government, audience, producers and commercials.




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