Free-to-Air Channels on the Rise in the Middle East

Eutelsat 8 West B Ku-band MENA downlink coverage. Photo: Eutelsat.

Eutelsat Communications released new data about the TV channels it broadcasts from its 7/8 degrees west video neighborhood at the CABSAT trade show in Dubai. According to Eutelsat, the neighborhood’s attraction is driven by the growth of High Definition (HD) content now broadcast on 187 channels at this position.

One visible shift can be noticed when it comes to Free-to-Air (FTA), which is now broadcasting more than 110 HD channels, a 44 percent increase from January 2017 to January 2018. This acceleration, which once mainly applied to Gulf countries, now applies to the entire region, especially Levantine and North African countries, Eutelsat said.

The pace of HD adoption is accelerating in the Middle East and North Africa region. According to Eutelsat’s latest TV Observatory report relating to Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, HD-equipped homes at 7/8 degrees west neighborhood are now reaching 20.6 million (66 percent of TV homes), up from 10.7 million in 2016.