Al Jazeera viewers in the MENA region have been advised by the Doha-based broadcaster to retune their satellite decoders to allow better reception of its TV signals, as the channel continues to experience signal interference. Nilesat viewers have been advised to seek the alternative frequencies of 11636V and 10992V, while Eutelsat viewers in Western Asia, including the Gulf, Levant, and Iraq, as well as Egypt and East Libya have been advised to retune to 11636V. 

The Al Jazeera Network will now be able to extend its coverage across North West Africa following a new deal with Eutelsat. The deal will give Al Jazeera "the opportunity to further consolidated their reach" via the Eutelsat 7 West A satellite,  according to a company representative. Nine of Al Jazeera's channels are already being broadcast via the satellite, allowing viewers access to the Qatar-based television network's channels.

The Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC)  is set to launch its high definition service. The Dubai based broadcaster will lease an entire transponder on Eutelsat's new Atlantic Bird 7 satellite in order to facilitate HD broadcasting. MBC announced a multi- year contract with the European satellite operator at Informa's Digital TV Middle East conference in Dubai.

Rapid TV News reports that the Jordan Festival of Arab Media, a the three-day summit organized by Audio Visual Commission in Jordan and the Jordanian-Saudi Company for Satellite Broadcasting, opened on Saturday and is currently being held in Amman. The festival brings together private and public television and radio channels, film production companies and advertising agencies, with the aim of achieving better media cross pollination across the Arab world.

Rapid TVNews reports that there are four satellite operators dominating Middle East and North African broadcasting: Arabsat, Nilesat, Eutelsat and Noorsat. However, these four players occupy just two dominant orbital positions, Arabsat’s 25.5 deg East, and Nilesat’s at 7 deg West.

RapidTVNews reports that Hamas-backed Al-Aqsa TV has been “banned” by French broadcasting authorities just hours after transmissions started from Eutelsat-associated operator Noorsat. Noorsat uses capacity leased from Eutelsat. Palestinian group Hamas's television channel was taken off the air in Europe less than 24 hours after it was added to the satellite network.

RapidTVNews reports that Cairo-based satellite broadcaster Nilesat is "booked solid" according to a study from Euroconsult and the London Satellite Exchange. The other 12 regional operators broadcasting over the Middle East are also busy with a combined average fill rate of 73%.