The problematic posed by the organizers of this colloquium pose a number of issues to consider when looking at the economic feasibility of specialized and general channels. But first let me clarify the points from which I draw my own perspectives on this issue—and it is not from comprehensive research, the …

Several satellite projects are breaking new ground in the Middle East. Egypt needed to find an effective medium for transmissions that reach all parts of the country and the Arab region as well, with minimum expense. The Egyptian government wanted to take a piece of the satellite cake by taking advantage …

Will it be cooperation or competition for Nilesat and Arabsat, the Middle East's two major satellites? And what will be the impact of Cairo's new Media Free Zone on any competition? TBS Senior Editor Hussein Amin spoke with Arabsat Assistant Director General Omar Shoter in Paris, and TBS Cairo Correspondent Heba Kandil …

Special section: "Actors and New Stakes in the Euro-Arab Satellite Scene": Reports from the Institut du Monde Arabe's first Arab broadcasting seminar The essential question at hand in this seminar—the complex state of the Arab satellite broadcasting industry, and its relations with Mediterranean neighbors—was "phrased" in various ways by different panels, with …

Two years ago, Nilesat was launched carrying a vast array of Egyptian and Arabic channels, promising to change the Arab media scene and reassert Egypt's role as the region's media leader. Among that array were the thematic channels, owned by the government's "public corporation" the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU), …

A Conversation with Michael Hudson and Jon Anderson,  Co-Directors of the Arab Information Project, The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University "Access to new information resources is shaping up as a major issue across the Arab Middle East," says Dr. Michael Hudson, Seif Ghobash Professor of Arab Studies and Professor of International …

With the enormous and ever-increasing number of TV programs being offered nowadays—it could soon reach 500 digital channels worldwide—viewers are in need of help in navigating this myriad of options, a solution that will provide them with more information on the programs and give them a simple, easy-to-follow guide. Perhaps nowhere …

This article first appeared in the May 2000 bulletin of the Society Suisse Moyen Orient et Civilisation Islamique and is republished with the Society's kind permission.  Dr. Naomi Sakr is a Research Associate of the University of Westminster in the UK. She specializes in aspects of media development in the …

CAIRO: When some of Al-Jazeera's commentators and talk show guests from Islamist and other Arab radical ranks criticized the Sharm al-Sheikh summit hosted by Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak as a failure, or worse, as "a shameful betrayal of the Palestinians" and their Intifada al-Aqsa, the honeymoon that had begun last …

TBS Senior Editor S. Abdallah Schleifer initially spoke with Al-Ali in Cairo about the development, philosophy, and new plans of the region's hottest, most controversial channel. With recent developments that have clouded relations between Al-Jazeera and Egypt, Schleifer and Al-Ali renewed the dialogue   S. Abdallah Schleifer: Al-Jazeera has an approach …