A profit-making enterprise?
Session 1: Rationalizing the market

The catch phrase “vanity broadcasting” coined by Jawad Abbassi, president of market analysts Arab Advisors Group, helped set off the playfully sarcastic tone during the first morning’s session. Abbassi likened the satellite boom in the Arab world to the California gold rush of 1800s and the US dotcom bubble of the late 1990s. The explosion in free-to-air channels, growing exponentially from 100 to 211 since 2004 was “bad news for pay-TV” he added, noting a staggering dip in the average cost of monthly subscriptions from $80 to $29 over recent years. The two main business plans adopted by Arab broadcasters: relying on either advertising or subscriptions for revenues “are both not making money yet,” he claimed, illustrating a prevailing trend in the industry: “deep pocketed groups not following profit-making rationale.” Furthermore, “very cheap” advertising rates in the Arab World, averaging around $7,000 per 30-second slot, pale in comparison to US Superbowl rates peaking at $7 million. But the boom seems to have been great news for satellite operator ArabSat. CEO Khaled Balkheyour admitted that the company had generated annual revenues of around $150 million with net profits ranging from “40 to 60” million annually during the past two years (See Arabsat interview). He shrugged off competition from European operators and regional rival Nilesat claiming ArabSat’s position as the market leader remained untested. However, audience member Hussein Amin begged to differ with the claim in his capacity as board member of the ERTU and “unofficial representative,” of the Egyptian satellite operator. He suggested the two state-backed firms shared the market rather equitably. But Balkheyour politely countered by suggesting that Amin hadn’t taken other telecom-related services into consideration. “Thank you Mr. Amin,” he said. “There is competition between Arabsat and Nilesat but we are all friends.” For its part, UAE firm Selevision promised that its new set top product would help clear up the fuzzy math in the industry, guaranteeing advertisers commercial delivery by targeting audiences based on viewing habbits. Perhaps MEB 2006 will be the judge on the success of that.

Survival of the fittest
Session 2: The New Face of Broadcasting

Talk of an impending “crash landing” for the region’s television industry got the second session off to a jolted start, which carried though an explosive question and answer session. The big number that rocked the crowd from the outset, presented by Jihad Fakhridienne of the Pan Arab Research Center, was zero; i.e. zero growth in television advertising compared to double digit growth across print and radio advertising. “We witnessed the clinical death of Arab TV markets—and no one shed a tear,” he said, meeting silence from the crowd. He described the industry as “short on programming ideas,” heavy on Western adaptations, and replete with “too many look-alikes.” Fakhridene said most Arab channels were facing a critical conundrum of decreasing audience numbers coupled with shrinking incomes. “It’s time to start thinking about mergers and acquisitions,” he said. There were also sober predictions from Nicolas Abu Samah the owner of The Arab Women’s Channel. He said the days of pay-tv were numbered in the region: “One day we will forget about all these coded channels.” Abu Samah also criticized stations established “without a mission statement,” in an era of falling production costs. “Anyone with $2 or $3 million can establish a channel,” he posed, “but how long will they survive in the market?”
The session’s last speaker, Abu Dhabi TV director Ali Al Ahmed, hailed a station’s need to boost credibility. He blamed some Arab news channels for indulging in salacious coverage by featuring promotional clips that juxtaposed images of crying children with B52 bombers. “Messages are being delivered to the Arab viewer with no time to think; we need to let them decide,” he said. Al Ahmed said extremists voices, though a minority, were dominating the airwaves while some stations rationalize violence. “Arabs condemn acts of violence but sympathize with the perpetrators. This sympathy is wrong,” he said. The drama did not end there. The session took an unexpected turn when its moderator, ANB political talk show host Zeina Fayyad engaged in a protracted shouting match with a Reuters executive. The argument was sparked off when a Palestinian journalist complained of no Arab news agencies and the subsequent reliance on Western agencies and their alleged favoritism toward Israel. “This is a cliché,” the Reuters executive responded, saying Arabs served as news editors for Reuters in the region. However Fayyad persisted, claiming “hidden” influences remain. “It’s high time we get rid of such conspiracy theories,” he said, claiming Reuters was “an independent institution.”

Where does the money really go?
Session 3: Increasing the advertising pie

Who would have thought that a truck carrying vegetables would become the most lasting image of this critical session covering the commercial viability of Arab television? It was Tarek Ayntrazi of Lebanon’s Future TV who quickly captivated the audience with his languid description of such a vehicle sputtering across the civil war era Lebanese countryside and meeting various militia controlled outposts along the way; an analogy, he said, that most accurately reflects the convoluted trip traveled by each advertising dollar bound for Arab television. “At every checkpoint, the driver has to pay a ransom,” Ayntrazi quipped, adding that media owners were “getting a bad part of the deal” in what he described as the “mish-mash” of media buying in the Arab World; replete with middle players and steep commissions of up to 25 percent. “Where does the money go?” he asked repeatedly. “I don’t know.” Other gripes include the region’s “shameful” standard of media research, a veiled reference to a major court battle being waged by Future and other stations against research firm Stat Ipsos which has repeatedly ranked LBC’s Star Academy ahead of Future’s Superstar—arguably the two most watched shows in the Middle East. The accusations didn’t end there. “The media favors some advertisers over others,” said Ramsay Najjar, a prominent Pan-arab advertising consultant. “There are conflicts of interest in the ownership structures.” Najjar cast doubt over the oft-quoted $1.5-$2 billion figure for advertising in the Arab world. Official rates were being slashed by 85 percent on average, he claimed, leaving a pittance; i.e. less than $300 million worth of advertising money, to be divvied up between the 200-plus satellite channels. He charged that Arab firms continue to fail to understand brand value, while the aim of stations is often “not increasing the pie, but rather decreasing the competitors share.” Tarek Nour, head of Tarek Nour Communications echoed “the huge difference between the rate card and the truth.” Though “no magic formula,” exists to stimulate adverting growth, he suggested stations capitalize on the emergence of Pan Arab stars such as game show host George Kordahi and soap opera diva, Yussra for product placement opportunities. “We don’t have loyalty to a specific channel, but rather loyalty to a specific program,” Nour explained. But Future’s Ayntrazi rejected the notion that there is simply not enough money in the market to spur growth. His station’s attempt to buy broadcasting rights for the World Cup were outbid by over $2 million at a cost of some $3 million, he said “There is a myth that TV stations can’t make money because they are competing against government stations.” During an extended Q and A session, a Dubai-based script writer asked Ayntrazi why stations continued to participate in the so-called “mish-mash” system of commissioning, which was harming the industry. “You can take a stand, but there are economic realties at the end of the day,” he answered.

The Jazeera-Arabiya debate
Session 4: Management of All News Channels

Tension between the Arab world’s two news giants came to a somewhat gentle boil when after an extended ideological discussion on news values Nakhle El Hage, head of news at Al Arabiya turned to Steve Clark, news director of the upcoming Al Jazeera International and asked whether he would keep working at the channel if his salary was cut in half. “I already receive half my salary,” Clark replied. When the laughing subsided, a clear philosophical difference emerged between the two senior newsmen, at least when on the public stage. Al Hage readily admitted what most of the audience had already assumed: That Al Jazeera, because of its backing by the Qatari government, may fail to cover certain local stories in detail, while Arabiya is accused of being soft on its backers, i.e. the Saudi royal family and cannot cover “certain events” happening in the kingdom. “In the end, freedom at any channel has a certain ceiling,” Al Hage explained soberly. Clark, on the other hand, held firm to the more idealist approach: “I have been given every assurance that we have absolute freedom to report the world, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.” Clark said the much anticipated English channel would not target “any specific group or religion,” but rather act as a conduit to “deliver the take, the attitude” from each coverage area, with a priority given to indigenous journalists. “We have no domestic agenda whatsoever,” he said, later adding “I would not treat politicians with more respect than the most ordinary viewer.” Fellow panelist Muntaha Al Ramahi offered her perception of press freedom after anchoring for six years at Al Jazeera and the last three with Arabiya. “I was free at Al Jazeera according to Al Jazeera’s policy and free at Arabiya according to Arabiya’s policy,” she explained. “There is no absolute freedom in the Arab world; you cannot say whatever you want.”

Catching up on education
Session 5: Developing talents from within

Outdated and out of touch were among the most common adjectives used to describe much of today’s educational and training programs related to the media industry in the Middle East. “University textbooks date back to the 1950s and 1960s,” said Hussein Amin, chairman of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications at the American University of Cairo. “We have to change this era and change these practices.” Amin also stressed that many universities across the region had become politicized and were thus paralyzed in their ability to prepare students for globalization and information technology. “Some politicians are trying to exercise power over universities,” he explained. Panelists also criticized archaic mentalities, cronyism and outright ignorance, even laziness among station managers and staff. “Stations have a budget for fuel and resources but no budget for training,” said Mahmoud Abdel Hadi, head of Al Jazeera’s training center in Doha. “If extra money is spent it would big distributed as bonuses for some employees.” Offering a range of courses in production and broadcast journalism, The Al Jazeera center has graduated over 1,500 students since its inception in 2004. But Abdul Hadi argued that a stigma was still attached to Arab educational programs, often providing an excuse for travel to overseas institutions. “That is often how money is spent,” he said. Panelists also offered light commentary on the more universal issues of workplace politics such as disputes over seniority and fears over fresh talent. “The decision maker is sometimes ashamed of not knowing something so he pretends that he knows,” said Abdul Hadi. Rotana’s human resource manager, Naji Mouwad echoed that criticism: “When you hire someone who is smarter than you, we might fear that they will make more money and we could be sent home.” Mouwad said Rotana was considering establishing an “academy” of its own for training purposes.

Widening the discussion
Session 6: A Geographic Assessment

As the show neared its end, participants finally began to explore the world beyond the Beirut-Cairo-Dubai axis to unveil trends in North Africa as well as the explosive Iraqi market. Morocco is seen as the most liberal country in the “Maghreb,” region according Hassen Zargouni of Tunisian research firm Sigma. Out of a total of $250 million in TV advertising spent between the Maghreb states (defined as Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco), Morocco accounted for the lion’s share at $180 million according to Sigma figures, which do not include rate card discounts of up to 30 percent. Algerian panelist Fouad Benallah, a France-based media consultant, said production remains weak in North Africa, hampered by government interference. “In Tunisia, the government licensed Hannibal TV on the condition they won’t have a news bulletin,” said Benallah, head of HMI. Privatization efforts were also stymied in Algeria he added, while Morocco remains the most open. “The budget in the Maghreb is limited so they buy everything that is cheap in the market,” he said. Ironically, the most upbeat assessment was projected for war-ravaged Iraq. “We are still going strong although alcohol is not allowed in advertising,” said Jean Claude Boulous, general manager of Al Sumaria. The veteran broadcaster, formerly the head of International Advertising Association, was quick to steal the show, scrapping power point for short video clips tracking the history of Arab television—which he helped pioneer at Lebanon’s TeleLiban—up to the variety of entertainment programming now being produced for Al Sumaria. The most popular of the shows is Iraq Star, the American Idol format program which garnered international media coverage when sobbing judges choose a teary-eyed 12 year old crooner as the winner. “People die every day in Iraq,” said Boulous, as he circled the audience. “But people live also; and they need to be entertained, the need to smile.” Established in 2004, Al Sumaria also produces small budget dramas filmed in Iraq as well talk shows through its staff of 90 based in Beirut and Baghdad. “Can you believe we receive thousands of calls from people asking for their horoscopes?” Boulous asked.

Divided they stood
Session 7: Banding Together and Raising the Bar

In the best of all Arab traditions, the final session, which aimed to unify industry leaders, nearly disintegrated into chaos and confrontation. The concept of “banding together” seemed ever allusive as prominent panelists, Al Arabiya’s Gisele Khoury and Al Jazeera’s Ghassan Ben Jeddou seemed to grow further apart by the minute. Passions ran high between the two talk show hosts, as Khoury began her presentation by questioning Ben Jeddou’s coverage of the assassination of her husband, An Nahar journalist Samir Qassir. Clearly moved, Jeddou took off his glasses and slowly, somberly began to explain how he cried on camera while reporting Qassir’s death: “I said we should never remain silent about what has just happened.” Plenty of other interesting things were said by the two. On the subject of censorship, beyond the “intelligence pressures” levied on Lebanese TV stations, Khoury recalled how LBC employees were once afraid to leave their offices after infuriating church officials when the station broadcast a comedic clip featuring dancing nuns. She also divulged “the secret” that controversial guests appearing on Al Arabiya are often not advertised in advance such that he or she “can pass on camera at least once.” Khoury recalled her pride at being the first LBC reporter to don the hijab for an interview with a senior Shiite cleric and ended by quoting her husband: “there is no free media, only free journalists.” For his part, Ben Jeddou spoke of “hidden pressures” that weigh constantly on Arab journalists and said attempts at censorship would only increase in the future. He said the targeting of journalists, “must be a united cause for all of us, despite ideological differences.” The crowd could not ignore the tension between the two as they sat side by side. The silence was palpable as a young Lebanese university student recounted how watching Ben Jeddou cry while reporting Qassir’s death had sparked his personal interest in Qassir’s life and writings. When another participant stood to voice similar support for Ben Jeddou’s coverage of Qassir, Khoury asked that the subject be changed. MEB president Ahmad Maaz attempted to smooth over the tense atmosphere, asking that the audience stick to questions instead of comments. “People at Arab stations are frustrated. Maybe if we speak with one voice, we can stir a reaction,” he said. But even Maaz acknowledged that the scores of university students participating in MEB 2005 had demonstrated greater motivation than employees of the many TV stations he had visited across the region. The dramatic session ended with the selection of a small committee that would begin discussions on creating an association of broadcasters in the region.