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from july 2009’s issue...

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North Africa

Freesat Freeview euro tv skyThe best kit, The best programmes

2 What Satellite & Digital TV

Canal Algerie is Algeria’s main free channel

Nile TV International is aimed at expats

Engineering or Algerian Antiques Roadshow?

Traditional music is popular on Libyan TV

Sudan TV news has that 1970s BBC vibe, plus veil

TV talent shows – is there anywhere they’re not a hit?

North AfricaThis month Wotsat looks at free TV from North Africa and how to get it

The difficult terrain of North Africa makes it an ideal place for satellite

TV to thrive, especially when you combine it with the boring TV that often accompanies an autocratic government, and drives people to look elsewhere for entertainment. Residences from Morocco to Egypt are festooned with dishes.

so the local state-owned broadcasters use satellite TV to reach their viewers without building expensive terrestrial networks into rural areas, and the viewers use satellite to watch something else – either foreign-based opposition groups, TV channels from other parts of the Arab world, or pay-TV networks. The latter used to suffer very heavily from piracy (although the viewing figures were great!) but recent encryption upgrades have forced away many non-paying viewers.

The biggest TV season in the Arab world comes with ramadan. every night, millions of muslims break their daylight fast in front of the TV, and advertisers target them – not just with ingredients for tomorrow’s feast, but consumer durables. Prime time commercial rates double, so it’s also when the most expensive home-grown game shows, variety shows and sitcoms air.

The state-run channels are financed either by advertising, or by a licence fee which is usually levied with the electricity bill because that’s the one thing the government can guarantee people will pay. They tend to be conservative, and news focuses on the state’s achievements and the ruler’s daily engagements, with little coverage of the opposition. local culture is encouraged; libyan TV showcases music, with traditional Tuareg music and dance popular in the south.

While morocco, Tunisia and Algeria all have a single privately owned TV channel, the main source of non-state broadcasting comes from egypt, which encouraged new channels with a lavish media City. But not everything that came out of this was complimentary to the state, and in february 2009 most of the Arab league states adopted the Principles for organising satellite Broadcast and Television Transmission and reception in the Arab region, which was adopted by the Arab league. This charter calls on member states to stop satellite TV channels broadcasting transmissions that ‘negatively affect social peace, national unity, public order, and public morals’ or ‘defame leaders, or national and religious symbols [of other Arab states]’. only Qatar and lebanon refused to sign it, and it has neutered the more interesting voices in Arabic TV n

Five of North African TV’s most popular shows

Al Qadiya (The Cause) 2M (Morocco) The Cause follows a female police officer heading a scientific department in the traditionalist police force.

Alhane wa chabab Canal Algerie (Algeria)Home-grown talent competition Alhane Wa Chabab has overtaken ART’s Star Academy with audiences since coming to Algeria – not least because it’s on free TV.

al-Beit Beitak Al Masriya (Egypt)Nightly game show The House Is Yours gives away a home to an Egyptian couple so they can get married.

The Day Has Passed Nile TV (Egypt) Drama series about Jalal Arif, a fictional character representing the corrupt leaders held responsible for Egypt’s defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.

Choufli HalTunisie 7 (Tunisia)Top Ramadan sitcom Find Me A Solution is about a psychiatrist and a psychic, extracting laughs from unemployment. counterfeiting and poor housing.

ToolkitWhat you need to receive North African free TVn free-to-air DVB digital satellite receiver n 60cm dish with universal lNB aimed at Hot Bird (13°e). see Channel Check for dish sizes required on other satellites

Next on Euro Spotlightn Free TV from the Near East

What Satellite & Digital TV 3

Euro SpoTlighT

Pop music from the more liberal TV of Morocco

Footprint

23.5°EAstra’s third major position has grown from being a feed for german cable head-ends with about 50 channels in 2004, to an expansion of 19.2°E for pay-TV broadcasters from holland and the Czech republic, with more than 400 channels today. Astra even produces a Duo lNB that allows viewers to receive both channels simultaneously on a 60cm dish across most of Europe, and it’s the home of ASTrA2Connect, the Ku-band two-way broadband service promoted to rural areas. its motley fleet of old and new satellites, from Astra 1E to 3A – 3B is scheduled to join them by 2010.n operator: SES-Astra

Satellitesn Astra 3ALaunched: Ariane 44L, Kourou, March 29, 2002Launch mass: 1,500kgManufacturer: Boeing Satellite Systems BSS-376HPTransponders: 20 Ku-bandEIRP: 52dBWBeams: Central Europe

n Astra 1ELaunched: Ariane 42L, Kourou, October 19, 1995Launch mass: 3,014kgManufacturer: Hughes HS-601Transponders: 17 Ku-bandEIRP: 51dBWBeams: BSS vertical & horizontal, FSS vertical & horizontal

n Astra 1gLaunched: Proton K Block DM3, Baikonour, Dec 2, 1997Launch mass: 3,379kgManufacturer: Hughes HS-601HPTransponders: 32 Ku-bandEIRP: 51dBWBeams: 1G

n Astra 3BLaunched: Arian 5ECA, Kourou, early 2010Launch mass: 5,400kgManufacturer: Astrium Eurostar 3000Transponders: 52 Ku-band, 4 Ka-bandEIRP: 52dBWBeams: To be confirmed

Free Algerian TVAlgerie 4 13°E, 22°W General entertainmentAlgerie 5 13°E, 22°W General entertainmentBRTV 13°E Berber entertainmentCanal Algerie 19.2°E, 13°E General entertainmentThalitha TV 13°E, 22°W General entertainment

Free Egyptian TVAl Hayat 13°E, 12.5°W Religion: ChristianAl Madina TV 26° Social educationAl Masriyah 19.2°E, 13°E Expat entertainmentAl Nile 13°E NewsAl Hayat 26°E NewsCTV 13°E Religion: ChristianERTU4 53°E Regional: Eastern EgyptERTU5 53°E Regional: AlexandriaERTU8 53°E Regional: Southern EgyptNile TV International 13°E International news

Free Libyan TVAl Libiya TV 53°E General entertainmentJamahirya Sat Channel 13°E General entertainmentLibya Al Shababiyah 13°E General entertainmentLibya Educational 1 36°E EducationTawasul TV 9°E Religion: Islamic

Free Malian TVAfricable 7°E General entertainment

ORTM 7°E General entertainment

Free Mauritanian TVTV de Mauritanie Sat 26°E General entertainment

Free Moroccan TV2M Monde 19.2°E, 13°E General entertainmentAl Aoula 13°E General entertainmentAl Hakim TV 26°E General entertainmentAl Maghribiya 13°E Moroccan cultureAM TV 26°E General entertainmentArrabia 13°E Social educationArryadia 13°E SportsAssadissa 13°E Religion: IslamMedi 1 Sat 36°E, 19.2°E, 13°E News

Free Sudanese TVAshoroog TV 26°E General entertainmentSouthern Sudan TV 26°E General entertainmentSudan TV 26°E, 13°E General entertainmentTayba TV 26°E Religion: Islam

Free Tunisian TVTunisie 7 19.2°E, 16°E, 13°E General entertainment

Free Western SaharanTVRASD TV 24.5°W General entertainment

NOTE: There are no free TV channels from Chad or Niger available in the UK

See Channel Check page 56 for frequencies

CHANNEL sAtELLitE GENRE CHANNEL GENRE

Free North African TV

Astra 1E is a Hughes ‘spinner’ like Astra 2D

Whatever’s happening, this looks like bad news on Egypt’s Nile News channel