The Kuwaiti ministry of information approved 10 new licenses for daily political newspapers. Kuwait now has 28 political dailies! Out of which only 18 are actually published (15 in Arabioc and 3 in English)
The main newspapers are:
Al Balad
AnNasher
Al Akhbar
Al Kuwait
Al Zaman
Al La3eb
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
MTV to reopen
Now that the divorce between Antoine Choueiri group and LBC Group is done, and after resolving the last political problems, our website has learned that MTV will announce next week that it will resume broadcasting.
The probable date is the 23rd of January
The probable date is the 23rd of January
Monday, January 12, 2009
Morocco's Amazight channel
Morocco announced that a new government owned channel will start broadcasting within the first nine months. The channel will be named the "National Amazight TV" .
The budget announced for the channel is relatively low, as Moroccoan communications minister announced that it will equal 4.5MEuros over 4 years!!!! That's probably enough to pay a dozen of employees, but shows that programming quality will be very week (a minimal yearly budget for a "respectable" channel stands at around $15M)
PS: Amazight is one of the languages of the "Berber" tribes mainly present in Morocco and Algeria.
The budget announced for the channel is relatively low, as Moroccoan communications minister announced that it will equal 4.5MEuros over 4 years!!!! That's probably enough to pay a dozen of employees, but shows that programming quality will be very week (a minimal yearly budget for a "respectable" channel stands at around $15M)
PS: Amazight is one of the languages of the "Berber" tribes mainly present in Morocco and Algeria.
BBC Persian
After BBC Persian radio (broadcasting since 1941), BBC announced last week that it was launching a new TV channel : BBC Persian with a budget of 15 Million pounds (source: Guardian)
the channel will have 140 employees.
This BBC Persian TV comes after BBC's arabic experience, where a TV channel was successfully launched in parallel to the radio service.
the channel will have 140 employees.
This BBC Persian TV comes after BBC's arabic experience, where a TV channel was successfully launched in parallel to the radio service.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
ATV is back...again
Jordan's first private TV group is back! ATV which initially supposed to start broadcasting two years ago, but was closed by Jordanian authorities, announced that it will resume broadcasting next spring 2009.
The group will launch three channels simultaneously (a news channel, an entertainment channel, a religious channel) under its new ownership structure (Mr. Radi Al Khass purchased 13% of teh channel from previous owner Mr. Muhammad Alyan; even though the current structure is still murky...)
Info from agencies, Al Akhbar newspaper and own sources.
The group will launch three channels simultaneously (a news channel, an entertainment channel, a religious channel) under its new ownership structure (Mr. Radi Al Khass purchased 13% of teh channel from previous owner Mr. Muhammad Alyan; even though the current structure is still murky...)
Info from agencies, Al Akhbar newspaper and own sources.
the most famous shoe
Lebanese channel New TV (famous for its provocative stances) announced today that it was willing to pay for the defense of Mountazar Al Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoe at Georges Bush during his latest Iraqi visit.
Tahssin Khayat -New TV's chairman- also announced that the channel was willing to recruit the Iraqi journalist if he was fired from his job at Al Baghdadiya TV channel.
Tahssin Khayat -New TV's chairman- also announced that the channel was willing to recruit the Iraqi journalist if he was fired from his job at Al Baghdadiya TV channel.
Monday, November 10, 2008
The future of TV in the Arab world
This is my (modest) opinion on the future of Arab TV in the Arab world.
The Arab TV landscape is rapidly changing, and within 5 years we will probably be facing the following scenario.
Two or three major media groups competing in the Free to Air (and probably entering the Pay TV) market. Currently Rotana and MBC are these two major groups.
Each will propose a number of TV channels to their viewers (general entertainment, sports, news, music etc...) thus combining advertising sales.
Three or four groups that will compete with lesser channels, but with one or two key TV programs. Media groups controlling Abu Dhabi TV and Dubai TV will be the leaders in this category.
To service these powerhouses, a concentration in production companies will probably follow. The Arab market can probably sustain 4 to 5 major groups. The financial of production companies are quite complicated, and in front of large clients (MBC vs Rotana for ex) only cash ready production houses will survice.
Media agency representatives will probably stop being the major players they are today in the TV landscape. Large groups such as MBC and Rotana will end up having their own internal media rep agencies (currently MBC is with CHoueiri group and Rotana has its inhouse Rotana Media Services) External agencies will continue to strive on the number of smaller channels and medium sized players.
Audience research (currently controlled by market leader Ipsos) will need to change. The large media groups will have mor epower than the Ipsos like companies. They might at one point decide to build their own joint research tool (or outsource it to companies such as Ipsos)
The future of the audience research will be to manage to combine out of home TV watching with in home traditional TV.
More integration is expected between Media and Telecom firms. Each might enter the market of the other (very long term) but eventually, Telecom firms are to media groups what supermarkets are to Coca Cola.
The Arab TV landscape is rapidly changing, and within 5 years we will probably be facing the following scenario.
Two or three major media groups competing in the Free to Air (and probably entering the Pay TV) market. Currently Rotana and MBC are these two major groups.
Each will propose a number of TV channels to their viewers (general entertainment, sports, news, music etc...) thus combining advertising sales.
Three or four groups that will compete with lesser channels, but with one or two key TV programs. Media groups controlling Abu Dhabi TV and Dubai TV will be the leaders in this category.
To service these powerhouses, a concentration in production companies will probably follow. The Arab market can probably sustain 4 to 5 major groups. The financial of production companies are quite complicated, and in front of large clients (MBC vs Rotana for ex) only cash ready production houses will survice.
Media agency representatives will probably stop being the major players they are today in the TV landscape. Large groups such as MBC and Rotana will end up having their own internal media rep agencies (currently MBC is with CHoueiri group and Rotana has its inhouse Rotana Media Services) External agencies will continue to strive on the number of smaller channels and medium sized players.
Audience research (currently controlled by market leader Ipsos) will need to change. The large media groups will have mor epower than the Ipsos like companies. They might at one point decide to build their own joint research tool (or outsource it to companies such as Ipsos)
The future of the audience research will be to manage to combine out of home TV watching with in home traditional TV.
More integration is expected between Media and Telecom firms. Each might enter the market of the other (very long term) but eventually, Telecom firms are to media groups what supermarkets are to Coca Cola.
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