Advanced Television

Eutelsat’s MENA coverage tops 50m homes

November 16, 2016

By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat says its 7/8 degrees West satellite positions, shared with Nilesat, are now reaching 52.3 million homes in the MENA region. This is up 2.6 million (7 per cent) since the last survey in 2014. The numbers come from the Eutelsat TV Observatory study.

Overall, DTH satellite remains the dominant delivery platform for TV with a total of more than 56 million homes, some 91 per cent of the 14 Arab markets surveyed.

Moreover, HDTV distribution is now gaining traction, with some 24 million TV homes now equipped to receive HD signals. Three out of four of the 3.4 million homes in 14 Arab countries that have adopted satellite over the last three years have preferred the 7/8° West neighbourhood that hosts Eutelsat and Nilesat satellites.

The pull of 7/8 degrees West is driven by a strong channel line-up of 1,264 Arabic and international channels, of which 149 in HD, and the diversity and exclusivity of free-to-air content (44 per cent of channels are exclusive to this position).

Eutelsat’s TV Observatory is an extensive multi-national analysis of TV reception modes and trends carried in 51 audio-visual markets in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Working with TNS and IPSOS, new analysis in 14 Arab-speaking MENA markets was carried out in March-April 2016 via face-to-face interviews with over 10,000 consumers in six markets (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE) accounting for 76 per cent of TV homes in the region, complemented by secondary research data. The study excludes hotels, public administration buildings, hospitality structures and other countries included in the 7/8 West footprint such as Mauritania, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Categories: Articles, DTH/Satellite