MTV Arabia, the Middle East's first youth entertainment and lifestyle channel, announced it will mark the Holy Month of Ramadan in "quiet contemplation", and air only cultural news programmes and reality shows; refraining from playing music videos during its 24-hour rotation during the holy month of Ramadan.

The popular channel launched in November 2007 has brought the Arab world cutting-edge international music as well as the best in Arabic pop and hip hop. In only nine months since launch, the channel has successfully featured the best musical talents, personalities and events in the Middle East.

However, MTV Arabia's Ramadan fare will reflect the solemnity of the Holy Month, according to Samr Al Mazouqi, the channel's manager. He said: "The Holy Month is a time for introspection, and we would like to offer our viewers a break from the ordinary fare. Though part of a global brand, MTV Arabia is conscious of regional sensitivities and we are keen to respond to the needs and desires of viewers in the Middle East, the vast majority of whom will be fasting, spending time with family, and focusing on their spiritual lives."

The channel will continue to play the most popular programmes from MTV's international roster of reality shows, celebrity news and pop culture documentaries. As is customary with television channels across the region, MTV Arabia will air the call to prayer during Maghreb.

Local programming to be aired during the Holy Month of Ramadan will include the popular 'Akher Takka,' which puts unwitting victims into hilariously irritating situations, counting down how much time they can last without blowing their tops!

A free to air channel, MTV Arabia broadcasts from Dubai and is available on the Nilesat and Arabsat platforms.

RapidTVNews reports that Nilesat has ordered its next-generation satellite, from Thales Alenia space, and with Arianespace as its launcher. The satellite will be Nilesat’s largest will equipped with Ka-band transmission. 

Salah Hamza, chief technology officer of Nilesat, said: “The build of Nilesat 201 has already started, with Thales Alenia. Thales was successful in its bid at the end of the day, and additionally benefited over satellite builders like Orbital Science because of our need for the satellite to carry four Ka-band as well as 24 Ku-band transponders. Ariane will launch the satellite, and the plan is to launch around May 2010.”

The date is longer off than Nilesat had first planned, especially given that its own capacity is long-exhausted, and there is only one full transponder on its leased Eutelsat craft yet to be illuminated. Indeed, its is likely that Eutelsat, with Nilesat’s full blessing, will move its old Hot Bird 3 satellite to a co-located position with Nilesat 101 and 102 in order to guarantee continuity of service. Hamza was visiting Paris today, June 3, for these and other discussions with Eutelsat.

Hamza, speaking at the Arab Advisors Group media and telecoms conference in Amman, said pay-TV operations in the Middle East were struggling to make headway locally. He said with the proliferation of free-to-air channels in the Arab world, with many now showing first-run movies and American series, as well as high-quality sports, it was increasingly difficult for pay-TV channels to make any positive progress. “MBC2 is now offering first showings of material that up until recently you would only have seen on pay-TV,” he said.

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RapidTVNews reports that NileSat is accused of shutting down the signals from a London-based Arabic TV channel. Al Hiwar is a controversial channel that has gained some notoriety over its criticism of the Egyptian government.

The station went off air from NileSat on April 1, “without any explanation,” according to its Managing Editor Azzam Al-Tamimi. "We constantly criticise Egypt and other Arab governments for their failure of policies," Al-Tamimi told the Reuters news agency. "Egypt has so many problems you cannot talk about it without criticising the government."

However, Nilesat’s chairman Amin Bassouni, in an interview with a London-based Arabic newspaper, insisted that he had no knowledge of any decision to ban the channel.

One problem for NileSat is its position in backing a new strategy designed to promote fair play for satellite operators which in the past have been criticised for carrying contentious channels. A newly drafted set of guidelines is designed to see a more rigorous licensing regime come into force, which will see governments having to take greater responsibility in the licensing of such channels.

Meanwhile, the channel continues to be transmitted on ArabSat.

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RapidTVNews reports that Egypt's information minister, Anas al-Fiqi, has strongly condemned satellite broadcasters guilty of "transmitting without regard for consequences," also adding that recent broadcasting rules agreed by  Arab nations were the result of almost three year's work.

"In [a meeting of information ministers] in 2005 we talked about a joint Arab legislation or a method to draw up principles and regulations to organize the work of the Arab satellite television channels. At that time, it was proposed to enact a joint Arab legislation but we found that this contradicted the principle of state authority because legislations would not be valid in states unless they are approved by parliaments or unless they are issued by a decree in states where there are no parliaments."

He said there are more than 400 satellite channels broadcasting over the Middle East, and there is "anarchy and this anarchy must stop," stressing that "this sector must be organized because this is the desire of all the Arab states, not one state. If we leave these channels to spread and multiply without an organization, all will have to pay for the consequences."

One proposal is for a body to "organise" TV transmissions. Asked if this body can evaluate the performance of 500 channels, he says: "Yes, here in Egypt we evaluate all the channels on Nilesat. Every word that is transmitted on Nilesat is evaluated, but regrettably the picture is dark. If you spend only 10 minutes looking at these channels, you will discover that there is a plan to destroy the Arab society, destroy the values, the morals. They have ignored all of this and are concentrating on politics and political programmes."

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 RapidTvNews reports that Cairo-based Nilesat predicts the Middle East will have 1200 satellite channels by 2015, from today’s near-900 channels. “There has been criticism that the Middle East’s advertising spend cannot support more than a dozen or two successful channels in free-to-air but I would argue that if a channel isn’t making a profit, then what is it doing on TV?", said says Nilesat CEO Salah Hamza.

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RapidTVNews reports that a meeting of Arab ministers is going to consider regulations covering broadcasting over the Middle East, with plans to institute licensing measures for sattelite channels.

The current problem is that in many countries across the region, there is little or no need to be formally licensed to start broadcasting a satellite channel.

A meeting of the Arab world’s Information and Broadcasting Ministers in Cairo on Feb 12-13 will consider a pan-Arab approach to the problem, exacerbated because the responsibility for policing broadcasters is increasingly falling on satellite broadcasters.

Amin Bassouni, chairman of Nilesat is also head of the Permanent Committee for Mass Media, reporting to the Ministerial meeting. He says that a study was started last June to bring regulation to the Middle East.

Salah Hamza, CEO at Nilesat (pictured, above), says the lack of licensing in some countries places satellite operators in a difficult position. “The lack of regulation means we have to be judge and jury when complaints are made."

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Nilesat finds itself in the comfortable position of having a fully utilized fleet, with near-zero spare capacity.

Therefore, Nilesat needs second-generation crafts to extend capacity, and to provide back-up bandwidth to its 101 craft, launched back in 1998 with a 15-year life span.

Nilesat is in advanced discussion with two satellite builders, one of whom is believed to be Orbital Sciences, regarding building its new Nilesat 201 craft.

Some confusion, though, has arose from NileSat publicly seeking a tender in this regard before, and now scrapping the old tender to start a new one.

Advertisements due to appear this coming weekend in trade journals invite satellite manufacturers to re-enter the tendering process. Bids open from July 9.

Via [ RapidTVNews ]