Al Jazeera International will employ 250 journalists from 30 countries when it begins broadcasting in late spring, or early summer.

The most watched television program in Tunisia is the Western-adapted reality show Deal or No Deal on Tunis 7 channel with a 50.9 % penetration level.

By 2010, around 41 million multi-channel television homes are projected to exist in the Middle East and North Africa with 68% of homes connected to cable and satellite television.

$3.5 million was the advertising spend on Jordanian radio stations in 2005 compared to mere $400,000 in 2002.

The BBC World Service, funded by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is a radio and online news service provider with 149 million viewers per week. Its budget for fiscal year 2005-6 is £239 million ($419 million).

150 million is the number of forecasted viewers for Al Jazeera International with most located in Asia, according to marketing manager Hamad Al-Nuaimi.

The cost of setting up Al Jazeera International has already surpassed $1 billion, according to the New York Times. Al Jazeera was founded in 1996 with a five-year $137 million grant from the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

$20 billion is the estimated fortune of Saudi billionaire businessman Prince Al Waleed bin Talal. His stake in U.S. media conglomerate News Corp (owners of Fox News) is 5.46% of voting shares. He also has a stake in Time Warner (owners of CNN).

87% was the level of satellite penetration in Algeria for the month of January 2006.

46% of Arab reality shows are non-competitive, while 54% rely on competition through SMS and online voting.

3.8% is the share of Muslim religious channels on Arabsat and Nilesat.
There are no Christian religious channels on Arabsat and Nilesat, but 6 Arabic-language Christian channels can be accessed through Hotbird satellite.

30 million votes were cast for contestants in American Idol, the number one rated show in the U.S., during the third week of March. Thirty-second ads on the show, which began its fifth season in January, cost $705,000 compared to just $10,000 for Superstar, the Arab version of the show.

Around $410 billion is spent on TV advertising worldwide, with over $5.2 billion spent in the UK alone. Spending on television advertising dwarfs advertising spending on all other forms of media.

15 million is the estimated number of video downloads sold by Apple’s iTunes online store since October 2005.

84,900 is the number of employees at Time Warner Inc.

Over 35 GSM operators from 22 Arab countries will open their voting lines for X-Factor, Rotana’s new reality-based singing talent show.

6 to 12 months is the test period for the BBC’s HDTV trial broadcast. It will begin this May with programs like Planet Earth and Galapagos.

$500,000 is the contract amount between Al Eqtisadiya TV and 3-D software company Vizrt.

Revenue for News Corporation, one of the world's largest media conglomerates, for the year ending in June 2005 was $23.8 billion, excluding its share of the revenue of businesses in which it owns a minority stake.

Israel’s three cable systems provide the following satellite channels: Jordan TV, Egypt Channel 1, MBC1, Future TV, Syria TV, RTM 1, Tunis TV, Saudia TV 1, Dubai TV , LBC Satellite , Al Jazeera, ART ( 5 channels), and 2 channels in Arabic from the Orbit package. The satellite platform "Yes" DBS provides all of those plus Rotana Music

78% of US advertisers feel that TV advertising has become less effective during the past two years, raising interest in branded entertainment and program sponsorships.

8.7 million is the forecasted number of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) subscribers in Europe in 2009; currently there are 658,000 subscribers.

In the first six months of 2005 the number of subscribers to European IPTV services increased by 66%.

$4.3 million, is the advertising income as per rate card for Algeria’s only state-owned TV network ENTV.

Showtime won 10 awards out of 23 nominations in the 2nd Promax BDA awards, held in Dubai. Showtime took Gold for the Best Television Image Promo, Best Drama Promo and Best Children’s Promo. MBC’s creative department picked up 13 awards, including best film promotion.

13 is the number of Arab reality shows aired on free-to-air channels in 2005.

I couldn’t stop reading the March issue of MEB from cover to cover. It took like three hours of "joyful reading" that I've long missed reading any other local magazine.
One article was leading to another – like a "Galaxy Bar".
What I really feel is that I finally found a magazine that I can belong to, that reflects my worries, answers my questions and shows me the whole picture of the media world in the Middle East. After all, it's good to know whose doing good and whose doing bad and where the money is going.
I am sure reading MEB will help me take better decisions for a hopefully better television.
Keep the information flowing – knowledge is power.

All the best
Zaven Kouyoumdjian

In its issue number 5, MEB Journal identified Dark Side as the producers of the movie Bosta.
The above information is incorrect and it was referred to in other parts of the article. Fantascope Production and Autobus Ltd. are the sole producers of Bosta, and Philippe Aractingi, CEO of both companies has written, produced, and directed the film. Dark Side were line producers and suppliers of the HD material.