Ramadan and TV (1/3): More and more Religious Screens

Ramadan, the great time for TV watching in the Arab World, had something new this year: the rising number of religious channels.

In the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, an article describes the phenomenon under the title “This is how ‘religion’ has won the Satellite TV war.”

Showing how media tycoon Al-Waleed Ibn Talal, owner of Rotana, a music channel, is investing in various religious channels for specialized audiences (chidren, migrants, etc.), the journalist explains that Ramadan 2007 will see a decisive battle between competing religious channels using classical marketing tools in order to increase their public.

According to one Arab professional, there is still room for more good religious channels even if many unprofessional ventures which have been launched are due to collapse sooner or latter.

Poorly managed, with very low investments, many religious channels are taken between contradictory and even conflicting projects: the small ads which can be read at the bottom of the screen do not fit at all with the religious advices given by the many shaykhs acting in the various programs.

To read the original and more detailed post in french