Middle East Television launched

A 24-hour free to air digital satellite channel Middle East Television (MET) is all set to start broadcasting from November 1.

It will be the Indian satellite channel to be launched from Dubai Media City.

Although it will focus on a substantial viewership of expatriate Malayalees, it will also feature regular slots for Hindi and other South Indian languages. It will also cater to the International Indians globally with local programmes produced mainly in the UAE.

MET will telecast through PANAMSAT 10 (PAS-10) Satellite at 68.5 E. The PAS-10 is a key link for broadcast network that deliver the most advanced value added video, data and internet services across the world.

The U.S.-based PANAMSAT's PAS-10 Indian Ocean region satellite's footprint covers more than 60 per cent of the planet's land mass, covering 30 million square miles. The area under its coverage is inhabited by more than 80 per cent of the world's population.

Abdul Hamid Juma, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Media City (DMC), said: "By opting to produce a good portion of the programmes locally, MET can utilise the entire value chain in content development from conceiving an idea to creating the final product and broadcasting it using the talent pool available in the DMC."

He added: "The launch of MET is a major addition to the community of International Television broadcasters who have chosen to make DMC their home. We believe that the channel's decision to broadcast from DMC is a major vote of confidence in the world class infrastructure and cost effective production and post production facilities within DMC."

Juma said that in the past few years the region's broadcast industry has witnessed a new momentum for growth.

"We here in DMC have tried to help accelerate this growth by providing an environment that addresses all the growth drivers of the industry-from infrastructure to talent," he said.

"MET is an exciting venture, particularly because it is a television channel that taps the expatriate market in the Gulf region. The expatriate community is an important factor in the region's broadcast market."

John Thomas, Managing Director, MET, remarked: "The programme content of the channel will be universal in appeal catering to Malayalam speakers all over the world with a committed focus on non-resident Keralites, their lifestyle and aspirations.

"The main target audience of the new channel will be from the GCC countries in general and the UAE in particular, which is home to a large number of expatriate Keralities."

He added: "Compared to other Malayalam channels the viewership of MET will be much more because of the multi-language program platform and the footprint of MET will also be much wider. An initial investment of $20 million is outlined for the project."

MET will use the latest SERVER-BASED transmission technology and will be uplinked from DMC's state-of-the-art Teleport facilities, said Sudhir Kumar, Executive Director, MET.

"MET is a sister concern of Alan Technology LLC, a leading player in the information Technology of the UAE for the past 15 years," he said.

"The new channel will have geographical reach to homes across the world including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Iran Iraq, the Indian subcontinent, Europe, far East Asia, Australia and Africa."