Arab Television Goes Commercial

Abstract

Taking the current debate on commercialism in broadcasting as a point of departure, this study sheds light on the promise of private television as a viable alternative to government-controlled broadcasting in the Arab world. It compares programme outputs carried by two satellite broadcasters belonging to two different models of television: the privately controlled commercial model represented by the London-based Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) and the government-controlled model represented by the Egyptian Space Channel (ESC). The study found that both channels seem to devote a fair amount of programming time to reach audiences in the Arab world and beyond. Yet, MBC was found to be far less entertainment oriented in its content than was the government-controlled ESC. MBC was especially distinguished in its Western-style programmes compared to ESC's mostly traditional formats. MBC news was also modelled on Western, especially American news programmes which draw on the report as the basic unit of the newscast. The article concludes that based on this preliminary study, private television in the Arab world seems to hold many promises for the development of broadcasting, long monopolized by governments.

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