22 - 28 March 2001
Issue No.526
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 March 2001 Issue No.526 |
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No more free TV
Saudi Arabia's Sheikh Saleh Kamel is making more of the controversial statements about pay-TV he is famous for. Tarek Atia listens in
At the launch of the new Arabic pay-TV scheme, "Al-Awa'il," in Cairo on Sunday, Arab Radio and Television (ART) founder Sheikh Saleh Kamel, a prominent Saudi Arabian businessman, reaffirmed some of his most controversial statements regarding the future of television in the region. The new system, distributed by Kamel's TV platform management company, Arab Digital Distribution (ADD), combines ART's seven channels with a wide variety of Arabic and Western channels in an attempt to capture the largest share in the ever-growing pay-TV market region-wide. Al-Awa'il's heady mix of news and entertainment channels is also heavily tilted towards sports, including channels like Eurosport (which will be scrambled in the Middle East for the first time, meaning those who used to get it for free via satellite will not be able to without getting the Al-Awa'il decoder) and Manchester United TV, in addition to a one Egyptian and two ART specialised sports channels.
"Sports is the spinal cord of the whole operation," Kamel said at last Sunday's press conference. It is also the main point of contention in a region where millions religiously watch soccer games whenever they're on TV. The Saudi media mogul has been changing the equation bit by bit ever since his ART channels started buying exclusive rights to broadcast premium sporting matches in the region. The high point of ART's hegemony in this domain came in 1999, when Egypt was playing Saudi Arabia in an important semi-final match in the Continental Cup. The big match was only shown on ART pay-TV, leading to much commentary in the press and amongst the general public on it being every citizen's right to watch premium sporting matches for free. At the time, Egyptian television could not afford to purchase the rights to the game, and was criticised sharply as a result.
The bottom line, for state-owned TV, is that ads don't cover the cost of obtaining the rights to premium sports contests, meaning major tournaments like the World Cup probably won't be in the offing. That's where Kamel and ART come in. At the press conference, Kamel said he hoped to obtain exclusive rights to every major tournament and sporting event in the region -- maybe even local championships and club league games. He argued vehemently that it is not the government's job to provide citizens with TV for nothing. "If we don't give the poor free bread," he said, "why should we give them free premium matches?" The argument on the other side of the coin is that football matches are one of the only remaining entertainment options for the vast majority of the low-income population, and even that fleeting joy will disappear if Kamel's vision comes true.
At the same time, however, the state-owned media apparatus is between a rock and a hard place, and is bound to run into trouble even if it tries to operate the way Kamel does. When ART bought the rights to the Cup that featured the controversial Egypt-Saudi game, everything worked out fine for the network, investment-wise. Last time, Kamel said, "we got shafted, because there were no Arab teams playing." He continued: "Basically, you have to buy early and take risks. Governments can't do that. They'll be in big trouble with the public and the press if they've spent all that money and then their team doesn't make it." Kamel has spent some $1.3 billion on his media holdings, which include ART, ADD, and AMD, which owns the negatives to a huge collection of Arabic films as well as a music production company. Many of these ventures have yet to turn a profit.
Much hope is being pinned on the group's new pay-TV distribution scheme, implemented as a result of marketing studies that showed Arab families want Western programming, news, and Indian movies, along with the basic diet of Arabic soap operas, etc. Kamel thinks the LE69 price for the basic bouquet, which includes 16 channels (the full range of 36 channels goes for LE199), is reasonable for even a lower-class household's budget, arguing that it amounts to only a couple of pounds per day, which would have been spent on renting cartoon videos for the kids, or going out to sports events and plays. Starting on 1 April, Al-Awa'il will replace the standard ART bouquet in markets worldwide.
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