ARABSAT welcomes euronews in Arabic

July 9, 2008.

euronews, will broadcast its 7-language versions and also the all-Arabic 8th version to be launched in the next days, over the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan regions on its 26° East video “Hot Spot”.  

With this long-term contract for space capacity on Arabsat's BADR-4 and brand new BADR-6 satellites, euronews will enjoy a direct access to an Arabic audience of more than 164 Million viewers watching the BADR constellation of satellites in digital, from the Maghreb countries to the Gulf, to Levant, Egypt and Sudan, as well as to sub-Saharan Africa in analogue taking advantage of its widely extended C-band footprint. 

A universal channel by construction, euronews has made its name among the international news channels since 1993 as it leads the European market in audience and distribution despite increasing competition. In this era of the "citizen journalist", euronews has adopted the crucial task of ensuring every citizen-viewer is quickly made aware of the facts he needs to form his own opinion of the world. 

"We are very impressed with the perfectly mastered technical sophistication demonstrated by euronews’ capability of broadcasting in now eight different languages. We will definitely put all our energy behind supporting its successful deployment over the whole Middle East, North African and sub-Saharan regions via BADR-6, our brand new state-of-the-art satellite launched as recently as last Monday at 26°East, the Arab world’s "Hot Spot" for Direct-to-Home broadcasting", stated Eng. Khalid Balkheyour, Arabsat's President and CEO. 

Philippe Cayla, Chairman and CEO of euronews declared: “At euronews, we believe that the role of a news channel is to provide every individual citizen with sufficient material for him to form his own opinion of the world.” 

“We are therefore convinced that joining Arabsat’s BADR unmatchable stretched coverage and high power over the MENA region will give us the vast Arab audience exposure we are aiming at while, conversely, our pure editorial line will as well bring something truly valuable to its entrenched neighborhood.” he added. 

Starting July 12th, 2008, euronews Arabic language service will be distributed and broadcast over the whole Arab world via Arabsat's BADR satellites where it will join a bouquet of 240+ Free-to-Air TV channels and 90+ radio stations available from the BADR constellation of satellites co-located at its 26°East video "Hot Spot". 

“We have a great deal of admiration for the company, the work it is producing, and its courage in broadcasting information accurately to people who want to look clearly at the world around them. As such, euronews will perfectly complement Arabsat’s already extensive diversified news channels line-up with a unique qualitative European view on news.” Mr. Balkheyour concluded.