Television in Egypt is mainly received through free satellite, while analog terrestrial represents 41% of total viewers. The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) said the average time an Egyptian spends watching television a day is 180 minutes (3 hours), while Egyptian channels recorded 170,000 hours of broadcast in 2019.[1]

Egyptian Television headquarters on the Nile banks, Cairo

Since Egypt launched its first broadcasts in 1960, state-run channels have held a monopoly on terrestrial broadcast.[2] The Ministry of Information strictly regulated private satellite channels as well.[2] The Egyptian Radio and Television Union, a government entity, owns all 17 terrestrial channels. Channel 1 and Channel 2 are the network’s main channels and broadcast across Egypt. The state-owned Nile TV is the main foreign language channel, aims at promoting Egypt's state point of view and promote tourism. There are 6 regional terrestrial channels, which used to all be broadcast to Greater Cairo, but as of 2007, only Greater Cairo channel (Channel 3) of the regional channels is broadcast to Greater Cairo. Most terrestrial channels were in fact satellite channels owned by ERTU, but simulcasted to Greater Cairo, since 2007.

The state's 23 channels are reported to have, as of 2012, "a small and dwindling viewership".[3]

There are also many private satellite stations. As of 2002, there used to be only two, Al-Mehwar and Dream, though the government has a financial stake in both channels.[3] Since the 2011 revolution, more channels have launched, including Capital Broadcasting Center, Al Nahar and Al Tahrir (now TeN), which have managed to attract significant viewership. Rotana launched Rotana Masriya, a channel broadcasting programs aimed at the Egyptian market.[3]

Subscription television penetration is low, estimated to be 9% in 2011, which consists of OSN and Arab Radio and Television Network. OSN was formed in 2009 by merging Orbit and Showtime Arabia. All of which are not owned by Egyptian companies, but by Persian Gulf companies.

In the 1990s, there used to be an Egyptian company called CNE (Cable Network of Egypt) which provided a few foreign pay TV stations broadcast terrestrially over the air (CNN International, MTV Europe, Al Jazeera English with one show made for Arab League viewers, and other defunct channels), but needed a special receiver and a card.

The overwhelming number of private satellite stations launched during 2008 till 2012 has changed the Egyptian TV production market drastically, lifting the dominant hand of state-run channels off the market. Over 50 TV series[4] have been broadcast annually during Ramadan[5] – Main TV viewership season. Introduction of dubbed TV shows – from Turkey and India mainly- on Egyptian TV channels made the market more competitive.[6] Egyptian TV productions companies started to adapt in efforts to match the foreign offerings which started to dominate the market.[7] Companies like Egyptian Arts Group, El Adl Group and many others started doubling their annual production budgets in efforts to match the foreign TV series offerings in terms of quality of production.

Most viewed channels

PositionChannelShare of total viewing (%)
1MBC Masr8.4
2Dream 17.7
3Mehwar TV7.1
4MBC 16.7
5CBC6.1
6Al-Nahar5.7
7On E4.3
8OSN3.8
9Rotana Masriya3.4
10Al Hayat TV3.1
11TeN TV2.7
12MBC Drama2.2
13DMC1.7
14ERTU 11.4
15ART1.1
16Nile TV0.6

Internet television

In 2012, Core Republic started the first online Television in Egypt named El Gomhoreya TV. It was later renamed to ELGTV.[8][9]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Egyptians watch 180 minutes of TV per day: CAPMAS - Politics - Egypt". Ahram Online. Retrieved 2021-10-09.
  2. 1 2 "The media in Egypt: Television wars". The Economist. Dec 17, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 "Arab Media Outlook 2011-2015" (PDF). 2012. pp. 141–142.
  4. ↑ "Flood of Ramadan TV shows hits Egypt".
  5. ↑ "Race or no race, its Ramadan Anyway".
  6. ↑ "Remon Magar: Egyptian Drama Falling apart because of Turkish Conquer of the Egyptian production market" (in Arabic). 6 March 2013.
  7. ↑ "best performance by Actor in Ramadan season".
  8. ↑ "رسميًا.. الإعلامية ريم ماجد خارج خريطة 'أون تي في' الجديدة". 23 October 2013.
  9. ↑ "بالفيديو.. «بالدليل: الطفل المصرى أذكى طفل في العالم» - المصري اليوم".
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