 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2015) |
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunication |
| Founded | 15 October 1993 |
| Headquarters | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Cairo, Egypt |
| Products | Direct-broadcast satellite |
| Website | www.artonline.tv |
Arab Radio and Television Network (acronym: ART) is an Arabic-language television network characterized by its multitude of channels. It is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
ART was founded on 15 October 1993 by Saleh Abdullah Kamel, a Saudi businessman and is a private company specializing in family entertainment, including movies, music and sport. [1]
ART was particularly known in Saudi Arabia for its exclusive sports event broadcasts, especially the Saudi Leagues. The network lost a significant amount of its audience share after the launch of many similar free-to-air channels like the Rotana network, owned by Al-Waleed bin Talal. At the time of launch, ART produced over 6,000 live and recorded shows per year, including family-oriented dramas, series, plays, sports programs, music videos and documentaries.
ART is broadcasting via the Arabsat, Nilesat and Hot Bird satellites. Most ART Channels are encrypted using Irdeto 2 Encryption. ART's technical broadcast facilities are based in Jordan Media City in Amman, Jordan.
On 24 November 2009, Al Jazeera purchased all of ART's sport channels which had the license to broadcast the FIFA World Cup 2010 and 2014 matches. This decision led to calls to boycotts of Al Jazeera by Arab football fans who were accustomed to watching major football events for free; and turned broadcast rights into a political issue where governments —who often purchased broadcasts and aired them locally for no charge, had to be involved. [2] ART Sports was subsequently rebranded as Al Jazeera Sports (since 2014, BeIN Sports). Later that year, ART also sold most of its remaining entertainment channels to Orbit Showtime Network.
Arab Radio and TV Network consists of the following channels:
beIN Sports MENA is a subsidiary of beIN Sports. It is based in Doha, Qatar, serving the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. They are owned by beIN Media Group, a former subsidiary of Al Jazeera Media Network; the sports channels were spun off from Al Jazeera Media Network in December 2013. Following the spin-off, the channels' parent company was incorporated in January 2014 as their holding company. The channels primarily broadcast in Arabic, but it also offers feeds in English, French and Spanish.
MBC Group, formerly known as Middle East Broadcasting Center, is a Saudi media conglomerate based in the Middle East and North Africa region. Launched in London in 1991, the company moved its headquarters to Dubai in 2002 and to Riyadh in 2022. It is majority owned by the Saudi government-operated Public Investment Fund.
Orbit Communications Company was a privately owned pay television network headquartered in Bahrain. Owned by Saudi Arabia–based Mawarid Holding, it was the first fully digital, multi-channel, multilingual, pay television service in the Middle East and North Africa and was also the world's first fully end-to-end digital TV network. Launched in 1994, it was originally situated in Tor Sapienza, Rome, Italy as the location was considered entirely suitable to build a satellite farm. Orbit employed around 600 employees who were largely a combination of British and Italian staff with several Arabic speaking nations also represented. Orbit broadcast in several languages around the world including English, Arabic, French and Filipino.
NTV Plus is the brand name for the Russian digital satellite television service from NTV, transmitted from Eutelsat's W4 satellite at 36.0°E and from Bonum 1 at 56.0°E. Previously a part of Vladimir Gusinsky's media empire, now it is included in the Gazprom Media holding.
Rotana Media Group, commonly known as Rotana, is a Saudi Arabian entertainment company. It is primarily owned by Saudi prince Al Waleed bin Talal through Kingdom Holding Company.
Television in Lebanon arose as a private initiative and not a state-institution. Lebanon was the first country in the Middle East & the Arab world to have indigenous television broadcasting. Various Arab televisions emulated the Lebanese model.
eMedia Network, Inc. (EWN) is an American-based media company that markets and distributes various international television and radio services to ethnic viewers in North America as well as Australia & New Zealand. It was founded in February 2005 and is based in San Diego, California.
Orbit Showtime Network, commonly known as OSN, is a Dubai-based satellite TV company, serving the Middle East and North Africa region. OSN mainly broadcasts programming from TV networks owned by Paramount Global, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, DreamWorks and the BBC, as well as regional, mostly Arabic, Turkish, and Pinoy content.
Rotana Cinema is a Saudi Arabian free-to-air satellite television channel owned by Rotana Group network. It was launched in 2004, and broadcasts exclusively old and contemporary Egyptian films.
beIN Sports is a Qatari multinational network of sports channels owned and operated by the media group beIN. The network has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its CEO is Yousef Obaidly.
Television in Saudi Arabia was introduced in 1965, but is now dominated by just five major companies: Middle East Broadcasting Center, SM Enterprise TV, Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, Rotana and Saudi TV. Together, they control 80% of the pan-Arab broadcasting market. Saudi Arabia is a major market for pan-Arab satellite and pay-TV. Saudi investors are behind the major networks MBC, which is based in Dubai, and Emirates based OSN. The Saudi government estimated that in 2000 the average Saudi spent 50% to 100% more time watching television than his or her European or US counterpart. On average, 2.7 hours are spent daily watching TV in Saudi Arabia.
In Bahrain, there are seven free-to-air television channels, four of which are privately owned. The country's public service broadcaster, Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation (BRTC), broadcasts over five terrestrial TV networks, including the popular Channel 44. Around 35–40% of its output is locally produced. Free satellite is the dominant television platform, reaching 51% of Bahraini households. The country has a relatively high pay-TV penetration, estimated at 51% in 2011. There are three main pay-TV operators: OSN, ART and Al Jazeera Sports. The government-controlled Information Affairs Authority directly controls BRTC and indirectly controls the country's other television networks.
The state broadcaster Kuwait Television operates the domestic channels, including KTV1, KTV2, Al Akhbar, and KTV Sport.
Al Jazeera Arabic is a Qatari state-owned Arabic-language news television network. It is based in Doha and operated by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which also operates Al Jazeera English. It is the largest news network in the Middle East and North Africa region. It was founded in 1996 by the then Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
A discretionary service is a Canadian specialty channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, may be carried optionally by all subscription television providers. It replaces the previous category A, category B, category C, and premium classifications.
