The second half of the 1990s saw advertisers queuing up to buy tickets to watch the pan-Arab satellite channels sprinting towards mass audiences across the GCC markets. The Arab general public responded in kind, especially in the more affluent states, where satellite dishes are found in every fourth home. The satellite …

In spite of its small size, Lebanon is a major player in transnational satellite television in the Arab world, so broadcasters and researchers alike are wondering about the implications of the return of Rafik al-Hariri to power. Hariri, appointed prime minister shortly before the publication of this issue of TBS, …

Sarah Sullivan: How is the relationship of MultiChoice Egypt to CNE, and to ART and Showtime, structured? Khalid Abu Nuwar: We specialize in different areas of the business. There's ART and Showtime as bouquet providers, CNE and NCN as pay-TV license holders for distribution in Egypt, and we work under their auspices …

S. Abdallah Schleifer: Is CNE seriously considering a move from the VHF analog retransmission that's now offered to CNE terrestrial customers to digital terrestrial? Abdel Rahman Hafez: Up to now we have not committed because of the expenses, and above all because of the price of the digital receiver, the decoders that …

CNE (Cable Network Egypt), after a long and troubling trip through the startup tunnel, has now emerged into the proverbial light that beckons those still stuck in there. To fill in that success story and find out where CNE is going now that it is in the financial clear, Senior …

The Egyptian Media Production City (EMPC), inaugurated five years ago, was envisioned to be the "Hollywood of the East." This ultimate "producers' paradise" is located at Sixth of October City, 10 km from the pyramids of Giza and 30 km from downtown Cairo, and occupies an area of two million square …

EPGs, the Internet, MTV Mashaweer, exclusive sports, and more movies than ever...Showtime is bringing a full range of "value added" services and programs to its Middle East subscribers. TBS: The expansion in talent and locations for MTV, meaning the new presenters from Cario and Beirut for the Mashaweer program, should prove …

The first digital cable TV network in the Arab World was finally launched on April 15, 2000 by E-Vision, a subsidiary of Etisalat, the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation.  Elsewhere in the Arab world "cable" is usually either shorthand for "wireless cable," which is itself shorthand for the MMDS microwave systems or for …

Viacom is the junior partner in the Showtime Middle East joint venture with KIPCO (Kuwait Investment Projects Co.), an investment vehicle for certain members of the Kuwaiti royal family. Showtime carries a bouquet of some 16 Western channels, plus 10 audio services, and claims some 180,000 subscribers. Redstone spent some …

DUBAI: Investment bankers are generally a strange bunch. Take any leading stock and some will take a buoyant view while others are more or less pessimistic, even though they are all working from much the same set of data and company core information. But in regard to American media giant Viacom—which …