Why is Al-Jazeera, the satellite television channel transmitting from Qatar—a small, relatively obscure Gulf Emirate—so popular, so powerful that it is starting to change the face of Arab TV news broadcasting? Al-Jazeera's impact is so powerful because until ten years ago TV journalism as we know it did not exist …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …