Market Focus
Market Focus
All change in the Middle East ?
Chris Forrester examines the prospects for Middle East broadcasting , with particular attention to recent events in Saudi Arabia .
Year after year , the broadcasting world sees the Middle East as one of its ‘ hottest of hot ’ spots , with an ever-expanding number of channels on air and a growing sophistication in terms of broadcasting creativity and professionalism . However , that inevitable progress was brought to a shuddering halt on November 4 , 2017 when Saudi Arabia authorities detained a slew of many very well-known names in Arabic broadcasting . The news emerged via an official Saudi decree .
The detentions followed on from an unprecedented diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia , Egypt , the UAE and Bahrain with fellow Gulf Cooperation Council member Qatar . One ongoing impact is that Qatar is not expected to attend this year ’ s CabSat show in Dubai . There are also constant grumbles about comments from Qatar ’ s Al Jazeera ’ s news channel , and even threats to its ’ BeIN Sport . TENSIONS . Perhaps fortunately , Qatar is an investor ( 9.8 %) in Arabsat , and its ’ CEO Khalid Balkheyour ( speaking in November ) said : “ We were also keen for EshailSat to be on the 26-degrees East position . EshailSat has its own satellite with its own content , and the unfortunate political situation has not negatively affected existing channels .” He explained that the political tensions hadn ’ t affected the broadcasters that are on Arabsat
“ We expect our clients to respect the content we agree on with intellectual rights and copyrights .” – Khalid Balkheyour , Arabsat and there was no reason to think they would . “ We have contractual commitments with our clients , and we respect those , while we expect them to respect the content we agree on with proper intellectual rights and copyrights .”
The detentions of some of the most senior media players in the region included Prince Alwaleed bin Talal , the billionaire behind Kingdom Holdings , and what is claimed as being the “ world ’ s largest entertainment company ”. The prince owns Rotana which encompasses a movie production company , music radio channels , publishing and television broadcasting . Alwaleed has often been described as the ‘ Warren Buffett ’ of the Middle East and has assets – prior to his arrest – were reported to be worth some $ 17 billion .
Prince Alwaleed ’ s TV interests include the LBC-Sat channel , as well as Fox Movies , Fox , FX-TV channels ( in conjunction with Rupert Murdoch ’ s 21st Century Fox ). Rupert Murdoch is an investor in the Prince ’ s broadcasting businesses , as was the Prince in News Corp / 21st Century Fox . He is also an investor in Twitter . Alwaleed ’ s Kingdom Holding said on November 8 that it had sold its remaining stake in 21st Century Fox . CRASH . The Prince ’ s key investment vehicle , Kingdom Holdings , saw its share price crash 8 % in trading on Sunday , November 5 and further falls on November 6 , the price falling from Saudi Riyals ( SAR ) 10.28 to SAR8.10 over the four days of the purge . Kingdom Holdings on November 5 put out a “ business as usual ” statement , but , as this piece is written in mid-December , it has remained silent ever since .
Forbes magazine , in a December 5 report , said that Prince Alwaleed was refusing to accept Saudi demands that he pay a huge ‘ fine ’ and then agree to life-long house arrest without media interviews .
Ironically Alwaleed is swept up in the new regime ’ s attack on alleged corruption . The ‘ liberalising ’ regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulazizn regime is also trying to liberalise society , including media . Alwaleed was also actively outspoken in support of the opening of cinemas in the Kingdom ; cinema has been banned for some 35 years but back in 2008 , he obtained permission to open two cinemas ( in Jeddah and Taif ) for test screenings of a
Qatar , home to the 2022 FIFA World Cup
Rotana-produced comedy ( Menahi ). As part of the liberalising undertaken by the new ‘ progressive ’ on December 11 Saudi authorities ruled that cinemas can again open .
Minister of Culture and Information Awwad bin Saleh Alawwad said : “ Opening cinemas will act as a catalyst for economic growth and diversification ; by developing the broader cultural sector we will create new employment and training opportunities , as well as enriching the Kingdom ’ s entertainment options .” The first cinemas are likely to open in March . PARTNER . A business partner of the prince is Sheikh Salah Kamal , who was the 50 % cofounder in 1987 of Rotana , and sold his stake to Prince Alwaleed . Sheikh Salah was also detained in the anti-corruption drive . Sheikh Saleh has , according to Forbes , a net wealth of some $ 2.1 billion . He founded the Arab Radio & Television ( ART ) cluster of pay-TV channels , and was a key player in the early days of Middle East Broadcasting ( MBC ). Kamel ’ s son Abdallah , well-known in the region , was also detained .
Also included in the round-up is superwealthy businessman Alwaleed Al Ibrahim
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