Regional channels rush to capture North African market
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 Dubai TV and LBC became the latest big names to announce specialized North African channels last November. Dubai Media Company announced in mid-November that it would launch Dubai Maghrebiya, a station that would supplement its entertainment package with news coverage focused on North Africa. The station will also offer programming tailored to “connect the 10 million Maghreb citizens living in Europe with their home countries.”
Lebanon-based LBCI, in the meantime, has announced the launch of LBC Al Maghreb Al Araby. So far, the station added one new program to the regular LBCI grid, Aish Barari, a Survivor-like reality show that is filmed in Algeria and pits a team of North African contestants against a team from the Levant and the Gulf. The show is broadcast both on LBCI and on Algerian state broadcaster ANT.
Aside from the reality program, the station’s initial offerings remain the same as LBCI’s basic mix of Lebanese, Syrian and Egyptian dramas as well as dubbed Mexican and Brazilian programs and Arabic and French music. “The Maghreb audience already likes LBCI,” Media Relations Manager Sana Iskandar, “but in the future, we will have specific programs for our viewers in the Maghreb region.”
The Lebanese broadcaster’s drive to capture a North African audience follows similar moves by MBC, which led the trend with its Maghrebiya station starting last summer. Al Jazeera quickly followed suit by broadcasting a daily show from the Maghreb starting in November 2006.
With a population of 60 million and a reputation for relative cultural openness, the Maghreb, i.e. the North African Arabic-speaking countries west of Egypt, would seem well positioned to be a leader in the region’s media market. However, according to a study published early last year, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Algeria were four of the bottom six countries, along with Syria and Yemen, in terms of both owning and hosting satellite TV stations. “There is a lot of potential for growth,” the report from Comtrax Solutions concluded.
Why so much interest in the region from the satellite channels, and why so suddenly? One possible reason came in a November 2006 Al-Hayat article, which alleged that a private firm’s research into Moroccan viewing habits was cancelled because it showed that local government stations were losing ground to the satellite channels, and notably to Al Jazeera Sports’ coverage of the Spanish leagues. The article noted that French satellite channels had recently started scrambling their signals, and that viewers were turning to the more polished pan-Arab satellite channels instead.
Also entering the market are a new wave of Maghreb-based private stations, although their record so far is mixed. Tunisia’s only private station, Hannibal TV, has been termed a disappointment so far, and private station Nessma TV, which was due to start broadcasting last September, was still transmitting nothing but a test pattern into December. Another private Tunisian station, TT1, under the guidance of veteran journalist Tarek Bechraoui, is due to open March 20, while Libya’s private station 1/9, led by Seif Al Islam Qaddafi, has entered into a multi-million dollar equipment contract with Harris Corporation and has been recruiting aggressively in Lebanon.
One area where the Maghreb satellite channels could have an advantage is in having a first-hand local perspective. Iskandar admits that, although LBCI has worked with local firms to do its market research, none of its creative decision-makers are actually from the Maghreb.
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