Dubai
Discovery Communications, as big as it gets in the global pay-TV broadcast space, is finally getting ready to make a splash in the Middle East’s intensely competitive free-to-air marketplace. On June 15, it will lift the curtain on a revamped look and content line-up for Fatafeat, the Arabic language cuisine channel that it acquired as part of Dubai-based Takhayal Entertainment in late 2012. (Fatafeat had been beaming for more than five year when it was bought.)
The timing of the relaunch thus allows Discovery to seek maximum exposure and viewer acceptance during the crucial Ramadan phase, when TV viewing across the region tends to be high and also attracts substantial advertiser interest. Fatafeat’s Ramadan programming will start beaming from June 28.
But couldn’t the relaunch have come about earlier? “For an international media company branching into the Middle East through acquisition is not a common feature — we wanted to handle it in a way that would be in the best interests of all concerned and that obviously includes the viewers,” said James Gibbons, senior vice-president and country manager for emerging business at Discovery Networks in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Audience understanding of what the changes will mean for Fatafeat is the key.
“For Discovery in the Middle East, this is the biggest event in the free-to-air space this year.”
The changes to Fatafeat’s programming will be subtle, bringing in elements of lifestyle or “wellness” into the programming mix. Given its antecedents, the channel historically skewed very much towards the female viewer. “We want to transition from a food channel into one where more members of a family can join in for different programming — “co-viewing” is what we are aiming for,” said Gibbons.
This will see more of its international programming being introduced through Discovery’s extensive vault of prime international content. Or, where possible, some of the more popular shows will be suitably tweaked to appeal to Arab viewers.
Regional advertisers have already been sounded out about the changes and feedback sourced from them. Closer to the launch, a full-on marketing campaign will take in multiple platforms, including on social media. As with any change of this scale, there will be a new logo and a catchy slogan — ‘Home of Smile’ — to go with it.
On the pay-TV side, the flagship Discovery channel continues to be the most widely followed in the region and “TLC could become No. 2 for us”. It was in late March that TLC, the female-skewing entertainment channel, started beaming from OSN’s pay-TV platform. TLC’s context mix also includes programming from the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
Given its background in pay-TV, is there a chance that even Fatafeat could effect a switch from free-to-air at some point? Gibbons prefers to play it non-committal: “One cannot rule out anything ... but as of now all of the attention will be on building up an audience following for Fatafeat as a free-to-air offering.”
