OTV navigates Lebanese bureaucracy
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 OTV’s efforts to become the first publicly-held television broadcaster in Lebanon were at odds with the Lebanese media law, which stipulates that each and every TV investor has to be approved by the government.
“The current Lebanese law governing TV was designed to control who owns the media,” says Roy Hachem, general manager and CEO of OTV.
In order to get around this restriction, OTV put together an odd financial structure. It established a company known as Al Lubnaniyah Lil ‘Alam, which owns the broadcasting equipment, employs the station’s staff, and holds the permit to broadcast. According to OTV’s prospectus, Al Lubnaniyah Lil ‘Alam is owned by a small group of private investors, with a total capital of $5 million. OTV Holding, a separate investment vehicle that was launched last October, signed a 30-year deal with the broadcaster under which it agrees to cover all of the station’s expenses, such as salaries and production costs, in exchange for all of its generated revenues. Under the contract, OTV Holding also has the right of approval over the broadcaster’s directors of programming, news, and human resources, as well as the upcoming programming grid. “When the law is changed, we’ll merge the two companies,” says Hachem, “and the sooner, the better.”
When applying for its broadcasting license, the station looked into the possibility of picking up one of the licenses previously issued to one of Lebanon’s defunct private stations, ICN or UTV, but according to Hachem, “if you want to buy an existing license or ask for a new one, it’s the same operation – you have to get the same paper.”
Bureaucracy aside, OTV also faces an identity crisis. The station claims to be independent, but strongly identifies with Lebanese MP Michel Aoun in its promotional material. The channel, nonetheless knew from the beginning that it couldn’t call itself “Orange TV”. (Orange being the color of Aoun’s political movement.) The color and the name were already taken by French telecom giant Orange, which has a strong presence in the region.
What the station’s founders did not expect was that another TV station in the region, backed by Egyptian telecom Orascom, would also claim the OTV name. Hachem says that he did not learn of the Egyptian OTV until the Lebanese OTV’s broadcasting rights had been approved, “and by then it was too late to change.” He says that the Lebanese OTV has not yet contacted the Egyptian OTV.
In addition to the trademark issue, the broadcaster is struggling with the ongoing political crisis in Lebanon. OTV has come up about $2 million short on its $10 million first offering of shares, which was expected to be sold by December 1, 2006, according to Lebanon’s Daily Star.
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