Instant guide to free digital TV channels

Visit Wotsat.com for daily news, reviews and updates from the world of digital TV, or join our forums.

from august 2009’s issue...

Want to see more?

The Near East

Freesat Freeview euro tv skyThe best kit, The best programmes

2 What Satellite & Digital TV

Haber Turk: rolling news, Turkish style

The coffee shop is the Queen Vic of the region

Meltem TV has the pick of Turkish movies

Daytime TV on the glossy Gala channel

Period drama also finds its place in the Near East

Never mind what he’s looking at, listen to the dubbing!

The Near EastThis month Wotsat looks at free TV from Turkey and the Near East

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

Bes TV’de en iyiFive of the Near East’s most popular TV shows

The TrapShant 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 ShowRustavi 2 (Georgia)Popular comedy-and-chat show based on the US’s long-running, late-night chat shows.

Kilna Bil HayyLBC (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 PioneersAl-aqsa Satellite Channel (Palestine)Children’s programme infamous in the West for spreading anti-Semitic messages using a Mickey Mouse-style character.

Binbir GeceKanal 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.

ToolkitWhat you need to receive free TVn free-to-air DVB digital satellite receivern 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

Next on Euro Spotlightn Free TV from The Middle East

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

¸

What Satellite & Digital TV 3

Euro SpoTlighT

Footprint

36°Eopening 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

Satellitesn Sesat 1Launched: Proton-K, Baikonour, April 17, 2000Launch mass: 2,500kgManufacturer: NPO PM/Alcatel SpaceTransponders: 18 Ku-bandEIRP: 49dBWBeams: Central & Eastern Europe, Southern Africa (steerable)

n W4Launched: Atlas 3A, Cape Canaveral, May 24, 2000Launch mass: 3,190kgManufacturer: Alcatel Space Spacebus 3000B2Transponders: 31 Ku-bandEIRP: 52dBW (Russia)Beams: Russia, Africa, Nigeria (steerable)

ArmeniaCHANNEL GENRE

Armenia 1 TV l General entertainmentArmenia TV Satellite m General entertainmentShant TV b General entertainmentUS Armenia Expat entertainmentAll 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

georgiaCHANNEL GENRE

1 TV, Imedi TV & Rustavi 2 General entertainmentAdjara TVm General entetainmentAll channels on Turksat 3A, 42°E, except: m only on Sesat, 36°E

lebanonCHANNEL GENRE

Al-Lubnania t Diet & lifestyleAl-Manar TV Hezbollah newsAlquds Satellite Channel t Hamas newsFuture International General entertainmentFuture News r NewsFuture TV Satellite General entertainmentHadi TV t Religion: IslamLBC a General entertainmentMTV General entertainmentNoursat v r b Religion: ChristianOTV General entertainmentAll 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

palestineCHANNEL GENRE

Al-aqsa Satellite Channel Hamas entertainmentPalestinian Satellite Channel General entertainmentNOTE: all channels on Badr 4, 26°E

SyriaCHANNEL GENRE

Addounia TV General entertainmentAl Soriyah Al Tarbaweiyah General entertainmentArrai t General entertainmentSyria Drama m DramaSyria Sat Channel m b General entertainmentAll 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

TurkeyCHANNEL GENRE

42 & 6News News67 Kanal Z Regional: AnatoliaAirport TV Travel & tourismAkilli TV Video sharingAks TV Regional NewsAksu TV c General entertainmentAsk TV General entertainmentAsu TV Video sharingATV Avrupa & Bengu Turk General entertainmentBerat Religion: IslamBJK TV Football: Besçiktas JKBRT1 Regional: CyprusBugun TV News & factualBusiness Channel BusinessCem TV News & politicsCep Moda FashionCine 5 General entertainmentCNN Turk NewsDem TV c General entertainmentDost TV Religion: IslamEge TV General entertainment Ekin Turk TV c General entertainmentEuro D & Eurostar General entertainmentExpo Channel Business & industryFBTV Football: FenerbahçeFlash TV & Fox Turk General entertainment

Gala ShoppingGaziantep Olay TV Regional: GaziantepGenc TV Pop musicHaberturk NewsHalay TV Folk MusicHalk TV General entertainmentHayat c Social reportingHilal TV NewsKadirga TV Regional: KadirgaKanal 1 & Kanal 3 General entertainmentKanal 7 International NewsKanal 9 Regional: East AnatoliaKanal 12 News & factualKanal 13 General entertainmentKanal 35 Regional: IzmirKanal A General entertainmentKanal Avrupa Expat entertainmentKanal B NewsKanal Biz Business newsKanal T G Women’s newsKanal T Kibris Regional: CyprusKanal Urfa Regional: UrfaKanalturk & Karadeniz TV General entertainmentKackar TV Regional: RizeKibris Genc TV Regional: CyprusKon TV General entertainmentKral Karadeniz c General entertainmentKral TV Avrupa Expat entertainmentMavi Karadeniz General entertainmentMax, Max Club & Maxi TV ShoppingMehtap M CultureMeltem TV MoviesMesaj TV & Mixx TV General entertainmentMMC Turk c Pop musicNTV Avrupa General entertainmentNumber One TV Pop musicOlay TV General entertainmentPlus Music & Power Turk TV Pop musicRumeli TV Family entertainentSamanyolu Haber NewsSamanyolu TV Avrupa General entertainmentSES TV Regional: AnkaraShopping TV ShoppingSky Turk M NewsSmart Cocuk, Su TV & Taraftar TV Children’s entertainmentTay TV RacingTek Rumeli TV Regional: RumeliTempo Tatlises & Tempo General entertainmentTGRT Haber EU NewsTJK TV l RacingTNT General entertainmentToprak AgricultureTRT1 M General entertainmentTRT2 M NewsTRT3 M SportsTRT4 M EducationTRT6 M CultureTRT Avaz M MusicTRT Turk m M H International newsTRT Cocuk M Children’s entertainmentTV5 & TV8 General entertainmentTV 58 NewsTV Kayseri Regional: KayseriTV Net NewsTV Vole & TVT ShoppingTurk C General entertainmentUlusal Kanal NewsViva MusicYaban Natural HistoryYeni Asir TV Regional: IzmirYumurcak TV & Yurdum TV Children’s entertainmentZ TV EducationAll 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

Free Near East TV

More satellite coverage footprints at www.eutelsat.com

See Channel Check, page 56 for frequencies