Freesat Freeview Euro Tv Sky The best kit, The best programmes
Instant guide to free digital TV channels
e... from august 2009’s issu
The Near East
Want to see more?
Visit Wotsat.com for daily news, reviews and updates from the world of digital TV, or join our forums.
The Near East This month Wotsat looks at free TV from Turkey and the Near East
Haber Turk: rolling news, Turkish style
Toolkit What you need to receive free TV n Free-to-air DVB digital satellite receiver n 50cm dish with universal LNB aimed at Turksat 2A/3A (42°E) n 120cm dish with universal LNB aimed at Badr 4 (26°E) n See Channel Check for dish sizes required on other satellites
The Western edge of the Arab world is a turbulent crossroads of cultures, but it’s also a rich source of free TV channels, often highly political. Across Armenia, Georgia, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Turkey the channels’ schedules often reflect the level of political stability at home. It’s a fair bet that nations in turmoil will have a lot more news, political and social discussion shows, and less music, variety or drama. It’s most obvious on channels like Lebanon’s Future TV, which is closely linked to the Future Party political movement and has moved away from its early days as an entertainment channel to a more politicised stance. Or even compare Syria – stable if not exactly democratic – with Georgia, where Imedia TV and Rustavi 2 have become mouthpieces for the opposition and ruling groups to the extent that Imedi was pulled off-air in 2008 for months. That’s not to say that entertainment isn’t popular. Even in war-torn Palestine the news only occupies about 10 per cent of viewing time on average, and when it does the most popular channel is the more-balanced Al
The coffee shop is the Queen Vic of the region 2 What Satellite & Digital TV
Meltem TV has the pick of Turkish movies
Jazeera than local political outlets. Admittedly, that’s a lot more attention than the news gets in Europe, and even Turkey has seen a rise in the number of news channels during recent years. It’s no surprise that Turkey has a prodigious selection of signals, most of them found on the country’s dedicated satellite position at 42°E. The Turksats are designed to serve Turkish people in Europe as well as those at home, and many channels are broadcast to both regions. But there are also several dedicated European versions, usually tagged ‘Avrupa’ or ‘International’, alongside regional channels full of local events. Turkey’s TV landscape has a lot more in common with Europe than the other countries listed here. There’s a successful digital satellite subscription TV service called Digiturk, but it competes against an arsenal of free TV channels in a situation quite close to that of the UK or Germany. It also has the only dedicated PVR and high-def channels, although it’s quite easy to buy non-Digiturk PVRs in the shops, just as you can over here. The surprising absence from this area is Israel, which has several free-to-air satellite channels on the Amos satellites, but they’re focused solely on Israel itself. Many Arabic channels double up with a Hot Bird signal for expats in Europe, but Israeli TV has always been, and remains, strangely absent from European screens n
Next on Euro Spotlight
Period drama also finds its place in the Near East
Bes¸ TV’de en iyi Five of the Near East’s most popular TV shows
The Trap
Shant TV (Armenia) Dark, Sopranos-style daily serial following fictional crime boss Hovo as he ‘fights for justice’ against big business, cops and rival Armenian mafiosos.
Vano Javakhishvili’s Show Rustavi 2 (Georgia) Popular comedy-and-chat show based on the US’s long-running, late-night chat shows.
Kilna Bil Hayy
LBC (Lebanon) All Of Us In The Neighborhood is a ‘mentoring’ show intended to help Lebanese children overcome the country’s growing ethnic and religious divides.
Tomorrow’s Pioneers
Al-aqsa Satellite Channel (Palestine) Children’s programme infamous in the West for spreading anti-Semitic messages using a Mickey Mouse-style character.
Binbir Gece
Kanal D (Turkey) A Thousand And One Nights is a romantic drama based on the film Indecent Proposal, following a love triangle between friends and colleagues at an Istanbul construction company.
n Free TV from The Middle East
Daytime TV on the glossy Gala channel
Never mind what he’s looking at, listen to the dubbing!
Euro spotlight See Channel Check, page 56 for frequencies
Footprint
Free Near East TV Armenia CHANNEL
GENRE
Armenia 1 TV l Armenia TV Satellite m Shant TV b US Armenia
General entertainment General entertainment General entertainment Expat entertainment
All channels on Hot Bird, 13°E, except: m only on Sesat, 36°E, l also on Sesat, 36°E, b also on Eutelsat W2A, 10°E
Georgia CHANNEL
GENRE
1 TV, Imedi TV & Rustavi 2 Adjara TVm
General entertainment General entetainment
All channels on Turksat 3A, 42°E, except: m only on Sesat, 36°E
Lebanon CHANNEL
GENRE
Al-Lubnania t Al-Manar TV Alquds Satellite Channel t Future International Future News r Future TV Satellite Hadi TV t LBC a MTV Noursat v r b OTV
Diet & lifestyle Hezbollah news Hamas news General entertainment News General entertainment Religion: Islam General entertainment General entertainment Religion: Christian General entertainment
All channels on Badr 4, 26°E, except: t only on Eurobird 9A, 9°E, r Hot Bird, 13°E, a only on Eutelsat W6, 21.6°E, v Intelsat 10, 68.5°E, b Eutelsat W2A, 10°E
Palestine CHANNEL
GENRE
Al-aqsa Satellite Channel Palestinian Satellite Channel
Hamas entertainment General entertainment
NOTE: all channels on Badr 4, 26°E
Syria CHANNEL
GENRE
Addounia TV Al Soriyah Al Tarbaweiyah Arrai t Syria Drama m Syria Sat Channel m b
General entertainment General entertainment General entertainment Drama General entertainment
All channels on Badr 4, 26°E, except: t only on Eurobird 9A, 9°E, m also on Hot Bird, 13°E, b also on Eutelsat W2A, 10°E
Turkey CHANNEL
GENRE
42 & 6News 67 Kanal Z Airport TV Akilli TV Aks TV Aksu TV c Ask TV Asu TV ATV Avrupa & Bengu Turk Berat BJK TV BRT1 Bugun TV Business Channel Cem TV Cep Moda Cine 5 CNN Turk Dem TV c Dost TV Ege TV Ekin Turk TV c Euro D & Eurostar Expo Channel FBTV Flash TV & Fox Turk
News Regional: Anatolia Travel & tourism Video sharing Regional News General entertainment General entertainment Video sharing General entertainment Religion: Islam Football: Besçiktas JK Regional: Cyprus News & factual Business News & politics Fashion General entertainment News General entertainment Religion: Islam General entertainment General entertainment General entertainment Business & industry Football: Fenerbahçe General entertainment
Gala Gaziantep Olay TV Genc TV Haberturk Halay TV Halk TV Hayat c Hilal TV Kadirga TV Kanal 1 & Kanal 3 Kanal 7 International Kanal 9 Kanal 12 Kanal 13 Kanal 35 Kanal A Kanal Avrupa Kanal B Kanal Biz Kanal T G Kanal T Kibris Kanal Urfa Kanalturk & Karadeniz TV Kackar TV Kibris Genc TV Kon TV Kral Karadeniz c Kral TV Avrupa Mavi Karadeniz Max, Max Club & Maxi TV Mehtap M Meltem TV Mesaj TV & Mixx TV MMC Turk c NTV Avrupa Number One TV Olay TV Plus Music & Power Turk TV Rumeli TV Samanyolu Haber Samanyolu TV Avrupa SES TV Shopping TV Sky Turk M Smart Cocuk, Su TV & Taraftar TV Tay TV Tek Rumeli TV Tempo Tatlises & Tempo TGRT Haber EU TJK TV l TNT Toprak TRT1 M TRT2 M TRT3 M TRT4 M TRT6 M TRT Avaz M TRT Turk m M H TRT Cocuk M TV5 & TV8 TV 58 TV Kayseri TV Net TV Vole & TVT Turk C Ulusal Kanal Viva Yaban Yeni Asir TV Yumurcak TV & Yurdum TV Z TV
Shopping Regional: Gaziantep Pop music News Folk Music General entertainment Social reporting News Regional: Kadirga General entertainment News Regional: East Anatolia News & factual General entertainment Regional: Izmir General entertainment Expat entertainment News Business news Women’s news Regional: Cyprus Regional: Urfa General entertainment Regional: Rize Regional: Cyprus General entertainment General entertainment Expat entertainment General entertainment Shopping Culture Movies General entertainment Pop music General entertainment Pop music General entertainment Pop music Family entertainent News General entertainment Regional: Ankara Shopping News Children’s entertainment Racing Regional: Rumeli General entertainment News Racing General entertainment Agriculture General entertainment News Sports Education Culture Music International news Children’s entertainment General entertainment News Regional: Kayseri News Shopping General entertainment News Music Natural History Regional: Izmir Children’s entertainment Education
All channels on Turksat 2A/3A, 42°E, except: c also on Turksat 1C, 31°E, l only on Eutelsat W3A, 7°E, M also on Eutelsat W3A, 7°E, G only on Eurobird 3, 33°E H also on Astra 1, 19.2°E, m also on Hot Bird, 13°E
36°E Opening up 36ºE was a bold move for Eutelsat, by both expanding beyond Europe and North Africa and ordering a satellite built jointly by Russia’s NPO, which provided the chassis or ‘bus’, and Alcatel Space of France, which provided the communications payload. This made Sesat an ungainly beast, but fortunately looks count for nothing in space and it opened a profitable market for Eutelsat, which was increased when the more conventional W4 satellite was moved to the same slot. Both satellites also serve growing markets for digital TV in Nigeria and southern Africa, although Sesat’s steerable beam was originally intended for India, and they carry Eutelsat’s Skynet technology, which allows one uplink to be broadcast via multiple downlinks on different beams. n Operator: Eutelsat
Satellites n Sesat 1
Launched: Proton-K, Baikonour, April 17, 2000 Launch mass: 2,500kg Manufacturer: NPO PM/Alcatel Space Transponders: 18 Ku-band EIRP: 49dBW Beams: Central & Eastern Europe, Southern Africa (steerable) n W4
Launched: Atlas 3A, Cape Canaveral, May 24, 2000 Launch mass: 3,190kg Manufacturer: Alcatel Space Spacebus 3000B2 Transponders: 31 Ku-band EIRP: 52dBW (Russia) Beams: Russia, Africa, Nigeria (steerable)
More satellite coverage footprints at www.eutelsat.com
What Satellite & Digital TV 3