Egypt has long been the cultural and informational centre of the Middle East and North Africa, and Cairo is the region's largest publishing and broadcasting centre.
Iraq was home to the first television station in the Middle East, which began during the 1950s. As part of a plan to help Iraq modernize, British telecommunications company Pye Limited built and commissioned a television broadcast station in the capital city of Baghdad. Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi state media collapsed. In June 2004, a Communications and Media Commission was set up to approve and grant license for all the country's media. By 2011, Iraq was the headquarters of 49 free-to-air satellite channels, one of the highest numbers in the region. Until 2003, satellite dishes were banned in Iraq, and there was a limited number of national terrestrial stations. After 2003, the sale of satellite dishes surged, and free-to-air channels entered the market. There are 17 terrestrial channels, of which one is funded by the US government through the U.S. Agency for Global Media (Alhurra-Iraq), and seven are owned by the state broadcaster Iraqi Media Network. In March 2011, Al Jazeera was granted rights to resume operations after being banned in 2004. Plans were established to set up a free-media zone based in Baghdad, the Baghdad Media City, by the end of 2014.
Alhurra is a U.S. government-owned Arabic-language satellite TV channel that broadcasts news and current affairs programming to audiences in the Middle East and North Africa. Alhurra is funded by the U.S. government and is barred from broadcasting within the United States itself under the 1948 Smith-Mundt Act.
Nile TV International is a public Egyptian television channel. It is the second Egyptian satellite television news network in Egypt, and the first Arab satellite channel to broadcast its programs in foreign languages; English, French, and formerly Hebrew.
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.
Orbit Communications Company was a privately owned Pay TV network, operating in Bahrain. Owned by Saudi Arabia–based Mawarid Holding, it was the first fully digital, multi-channel, multi-lingual, 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.
Arab Radio and Television Network is an Arabic-language television network characterized by its multitude of channels. It is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
MTV Middle East, formerly MTV Arabia, was a free-to-air music television channel, and the Middle Eastern incarnation of MTV. As an addition to the MTV network, it was a joint venture between MTV Networks International and Arabian Television Network, a subsidiary of Arabian Broadcasting Network, and part of Arab Media Group, the largest media group in the United Arab Emirates. Launched as MTV Arabia, the channel was rebranded as MTV Middle East on August 30, 2011.
Moez Masoud is an Egyptian scholar, public intellectual and international producer who focuses on the fields of existential questions, challenges to global co-existence, and identity in the modern world.
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.
The Egyptian Radio and Television Union , formely known as Egyptian State Broadcasting, is the public broadcaster of Egypt, operated by the Egyptian government. It is a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ABSU).
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.
Mona El Saghir is the former head of the Egyptian television Script Review and Material Classification Department, previously known as the Egyptian television Censorship Department,.
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.
ON, also known as ON E and formerly known as ON TV, is an Egyptian digital television channel owned by the United Media Services (UMS), a company owned by the Egyptian General Intelligence Service (GIS) since 2016. The station positions itself on its website as "the only politically independent Egyptian television station."
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.
An Arab television drama or Arab soap opera is a television form of melodramatic serialized fiction. The musalsalat are similar in style to Latin American telenovelas. They are often historical epics about Islamic figures or love stories involving class conflict and intrigue. The word musalsal literally means "chained, continuous".
Walid Mostafa is an Egyptian media businessman. He is the director of international NRJ EGYPT radio station. Mostafa also founded Youm7 newspaper in 2007, and Al-Nahar television channel in 2011. He works in the field of visual, audible, and readable media, marketing and advertising. He is a member of the Egyptian Junior Business Association (EJB) and the International Advertising Association (IAA). He is also a member of the Egyptian Public Relation Association (EPRA) and the Journalist Association, as well as a member of the Syndicate of Pharmacists.
Shahid is an Arabic content-streaming platform operated by the Saudi state-owned MBC Group.
