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 …

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 …

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 …

Video Cairo Sat has for almost thirty years been providing news production services to TV broadcasters around the world. Now, with the legalization of private satellite channels in Egypt, VCS is launching Cairo Sat News, its own satellite news channel. TBS Managing Editor Sarah Sullivan talked to VCS's Managing Director Ibrahim Nawar in …

Growth of new technology is changing the way news is covered around the world, especially in remote locations where satellite uplink doesn't exist and where bringing in equipment is difficult if not impossible. TBS spoke with two Nairobi-based journalists—Khalid Kazziha, APTN senior producer for East/Central and West Africa and Nadia Bilbasey, …

Susan Irwin is founder and President of Irwin Communications, Inc., which she founded in 1985. Ms. Irwin began her career in the satellite industry in 1977 as a consultant to the Appalachian Regional Commission on a project which demonstrated the use of satellites to broadcast live educational programming to rural …

Dolores Martos is the Vice President for Latin American Sales at New Skies Satellites responsible for all NSS sales and marketing activities in the Latin American region. New Skies Satellites N.V. is a private global system of commercial telecommunications satellites incorporated in The Netherlands. Ms. Martos joined New Skies Satellites …