The competition continues

In light of the ongoing fight for TV supremacy in the Middle East, Rotana group announced the creation of a number of new channels:
- Aghani (music, specialized in Gulf music)
- a new fox channel (after fox movies) specialized in series

On the other hand, MBC - Rotana's competitor- is also launching a new channel in 2009 - a family channel.

Now all these are Free To Air, as advertising in the Middle East is expected to keep growing....that was before the recession and the drop in the price of oil. What will happen next, is probably even more competition, as the giants of the industry will probably start "eating" the medium sized players.

The Week in the press

*Tunisian pollster company : Sigma, published a survey on Tunisian TV watching during Ramadan (prime time)

Tunisian TV Channel 1 (Government TV): 46%
Hanibaal TV (Private TV): 22%
Tunisian TV Channel 2 (Government TV): 21%
Others (Arab channels): 11%

* Jordan Children channel launched its new website

*Syrian banned Al Hayat newspaper (Al Hayat is based in London, but is Saudi owned)