RapidTVNews reports that Arab Advisors Group have published a study showing that Nilesat is now carrying 335 free-to-air digital channels over the Middle East. ArabSat, Nilesat, Noorsat and Eutelsat, between them were carrying well over 370 channels, having doubled in number since April 2006. Therefore, some 90% of TV viewing is via satellite.

Arab Advisors Group data says that 94.9% of Qatari’s have satellite TV. The Saudi Arabian figure is 93.9%, and this is almost totally DTH. Same with Kuwait, where, AAG says, 94.2% of homes view DTH satellite. In Jordan, where just about every home has a dish, the number is 89%. Even “1948 Arabs”, living in Israel, are big viewers of satellite TV (84.6%).

The two problem nations, according to AAG are the Lebanon, and Egypt. Lebanon has 75.8% DTH viewing, although this is also a highly suspicious number given that the Lebanon is a widely-cabled region and helped by widespread signal piracy. Egypt’s satellite TV viewing is stated as 49.1%, but Egypt is also said to be a country where signal theft is commonplace (via “neighbourhood piracy links”) for both TV and broadband access.

Arab Advisors Group says that a recent Egyptian survey carried out by them shows that 63.4% of Egyptian households with an ADSL connection share the connection with neighbours.

Read more.