{"id":63605,"date":"2018-11-13T20:41:23","date_gmt":"2018-11-13T12:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/mea-video-markets-a-tale-of-two-regions\/"},"modified":"2018-11-13T20:41:23","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T12:41:23","slug":"mea-video-markets-a-tale-of-two-regions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/mea-video-markets-a-tale-of-two-regions\/","title":{"rendered":"MEA Video Markets \u2013 A Tale of Two Regions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the huge amount of attention given to High Throughput Satellites (HTS), Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations, and NewSpace, it is easy to forget that the bread and butter of the satellite industry remains video broadcast, with this accounting for just over half of satellite industry revenues at year end 2017, and over 1800 new channels to be added within the Middle East and Africa (MEA) over the coming decade. The MEA region has recently received much press coverage related to the video markets, with news being both good and bad. When looking at these markets, there is a very clear difference between Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with these two regions having seen very different types of development of the video market, with quite different prospects moving forward.<\/p>\n<h2>MENA: Bifurcation and Piracy<\/h2>\n<p>MENA has traditionally been a region dominated by Free-to-Air (FTA) TV stations, with pan-regional Arabic content being the norm. This has changed significantly over the past 5 years, with pay TV platforms such as beIN (Qatar) and OSN (Dubai) targeting the wealthier regions of MENA with some success, with each believed to have subscriber numbers in the low single-digit millions, at Average Revenue Per Users (ARPUs) of around $20-30 per month. Relying on a variety of premium content, and a large number of High Definition (HD) channels, these two platforms have revolutionized the MENA broadcast market, creating a pay TV business model that works. Both platforms have larger ambitions outside of MENA, although beIN has so far been the more aggressive of the two, broadcasting exclusive sports content to many parts of Asia (both developed and developing). These premium TV platforms have had the most success in the wealthy regions of MENA and amongst expat communities, with subscribers tending to be concentrated in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MYO8EayQS0u6P8pFDRBb_VS_120118_Cover_DGTL-300x225.jpg\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" style=\"width: 120px; height: auto;\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MYO8EayQS0u6P8pFDRBb_VS_120118_Cover_DGTL-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MYO8EayQS0u6P8pFDRBb_VS_120118_Cover_DGTL-800x600.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MYO8EayQS0u6P8pFDRBb_VS_120118_Cover_DGTL-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MYO8EayQS0u6P8pFDRBb_VS_120118_Cover_DGTL.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"fs-5 mt-0\">Explore the December 2018 Issue<\/h3>\n<p class=\"mb-0 fs-smaller text-balance\">Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-primary\" type=\"button\" data-bs-toggle=\"offcanvas\" data-bs-target=\"#offcanvasMENU\" aria-controls=\"offcanvasExample\" aria-label=\"button\" style=\"white-space: nowrap;\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\tView More <i class=\"bi bi-arrow-right-circle\"><\/i><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/button><\/p>\n<p>Despite channel counts and subscribers being on an upwards trend, premium platforms \u2013 most notably beIN \u2013 have been under attack recently by the continuing problem of pay TV: piracy. In an interesting instance of politics getting involved in the satellite pay TV market, beIN has recently been coping with illegal re-broadcasts of its content from a platform called beoutQ. This has involved beoutQ rebroadcasting beIN live sports content on a 10 second delay, with beIN claiming that the broadcast is coming from Saudi Arabia, and being carried on ArabSat satellites. The piracy has been going on for some time, with the 2018 World Cup, 2018 Champions League, and other expensive and exclusive content being illegally re-broadcasted on beoutQ. While there isn\u2019t a set price for beoutQ content (it is pirated content, after all), sources have indicated a price of $100 per year, around a third of the price of a beIN subscription. While this isn\u2019t believed to be creating a life or death situation for beIN, this issue is significant in its extreme reach (the entirety of MENA), and also its boldness.<\/p>\n<p>Outside of pay TV, the MENA video market maintains a large number of FTA channels, although these channels have seen relatively less growth lately. Due to a large number of these channels being financed by state funding, which is tighter now due to lower oil prices and a general decline in the value proposition of ad-based TV content, these channels are seen as being in terminal decline in MENA. With that said, there remains some positive growth in niche markets, such as domestic content in countries like Sudan, or the broadcast of ethnic content across MENA. For example, Turkish content has become very popular throughout the entirety of MENA, leading to organic channel growth in this regard.<\/p>\n<h2>Sub-Saharan Africa: Growth from Several Sources<\/h2>\n<p>The Sub-Saharan African broadcast market has long been dominated by DSTV of South Africa, and to a lesser extent, China\u2019s StarTimes. These two companies remain the biggest platforms in the region by far, but recent years have seen more regional-level, but also some cases country-level content entering the market, with this growth boosted by additional investment from China.<\/p>\n<p><script>var AIAD_fcd45f981d570e35cee941b23edc69c7_6a6bc174182a4;googletag.cmd.push(function(){var AIMAP_29b58f13885ebf8ea6b032f958eb0748 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([992, 100], [[970, 90], [970, 250]]).addSize([768, 100], [728, 90]).addSize([320, 100], [320, 50]).build();var AIMAP_737ce075cc05dd766c8f8ea08f3faa73 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([768, 100], [728, 90]).addSize([320, 100], [320, 50]).build();var AIMAP_21fe3bcfb86a8660aba4e721ee9338f3 = googletag.sizeMapping().addSize([1200, 100], [970, 250]).addSize([768, 100], [600, 300]).addSize([320, 100], [300, 250]).build();AIAD_fcd45f981d570e35cee941b23edc69c7_6a6bc174182a4 = googletag.defineSlot('\/987\/satellitetoday.com\/via-satellite-digital-issue-ads', [ [600, 300], [300, 250], [970, 250] ], 'div-gpt-ad-1774631144891- 0-6a6bc174182a5').defineSizeMapping(AIMAP_21fe3bcfb86a8660aba4e721ee9338f3).setCollapseEmptyDiv(true).addService(googletag.pubads());   });<\/script><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1774631144891- 0-6a6bc174182a5'); });<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Fairly established platforms such as Zuku (in Kenya) have been joined by newer platforms such as Kwes\u00e9 TV, the latter being launched last year to cater to Ghana, Rwanda, and Zambia. This has also been supplemented by an increase in national-level FTA channels in some countries, such as Ethiopia and Nigeria, both of which are home to large populations which are spread over relatively large land areas.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to these platforms, China has also been trying to increase the penetration of satellite TV in Africa through its 10,000 villages program, which aims to connect 10,000 villages in Sub-Saharan Africa to satellite TV through the reach of StarTimes. This is expected to lead to organic channel growth in Standard Definition (SD) channels, due to an increase in the total number of viewers on these platforms. This may also lead to generally deeper penetration of satellite TV into the Sub-Saharan African market, given that many of these villages are currently not receiving satellite TV signals.<\/p>\n<h2>Bottom Line<\/h2>\n<p>The Middle East and African satellite TV markets are diverse, with the MENA market having two distinct sub-markets, and the Sub-Saharan African market having several distinct sub-markets. With that being said, recent developments in both regions have generally been positive, with an increasing awareness of satellite TV and with generally increasing channel numbers throughout both regions.<\/p>\n<p>Moving forward, channel numbers are expected to continue to increase, however challenges will remain. Piracy, particularly in MENA but also very much in SSA, is a key issue still, and macroeconomic factors such as oil prices (or in the case of SSA, natural resource prices more generally) have made government-funded channels more difficult to justify. At a time when the satellite industry is being dominated by talk of HTS and the next generation of satellite technology, it is important to remember that video broadcast remains the industry\u2019s bread and butter, and that the MEA region remains a strong market in this regard. <\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"widget-title\">In This Issue<\/h2>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 406746:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4zn5IXdYQG6uf1hmexbf_Wyler2-200x300.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4zn5IXdYQG6uf1hmexbf_Wyler2-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4zn5IXdYQG6uf1hmexbf_Wyler2-534x800.jpg 534w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4zn5IXdYQG6uf1hmexbf_Wyler2-1025x1536.jpg 1025w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4zn5IXdYQG6uf1hmexbf_Wyler2-640x960.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4zn5IXdYQG6uf1hmexbf_Wyler2.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tGreg Wyler, The Definitive 2018 Interview<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"my-3 d-block d-md-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 406764:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cuI6DoekRZuHtrs1Lfnp_Opinion_Bubbles_Web-300x300.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cuI6DoekRZuHtrs1Lfnp_Opinion_Bubbles_Web-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cuI6DoekRZuHtrs1Lfnp_Opinion_Bubbles_Web-800x800.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cuI6DoekRZuHtrs1Lfnp_Opinion_Bubbles_Web-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cuI6DoekRZuHtrs1Lfnp_Opinion_Bubbles_Web-640x640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cuI6DoekRZuHtrs1Lfnp_Opinion_Bubbles_Web.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tIn Space, No One Can Hear You Scream<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"my-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 406751:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/l8jTS0RQPypZe9LsCflJ_VS_120118_Africa-300x200.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/l8jTS0RQPypZe9LsCflJ_VS_120118_Africa-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/l8jTS0RQPypZe9LsCflJ_VS_120118_Africa-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/l8jTS0RQPypZe9LsCflJ_VS_120118_Africa-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/l8jTS0RQPypZe9LsCflJ_VS_120118_Africa.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tIs Satellite Really Reducing the Digital Divide?<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"my-3 d-block d-md-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 406758:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3R22OkoVTTSB0fwWKkO1_Africa_DTH-300x200.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3R22OkoVTTSB0fwWKkO1_Africa_DTH-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3R22OkoVTTSB0fwWKkO1_Africa_DTH-800x534.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3R22OkoVTTSB0fwWKkO1_Africa_DTH-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3R22OkoVTTSB0fwWKkO1_Africa_DTH.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tIs Video Killing the DTH Star?<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"my-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 406775:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"300\" height=\"167\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/suwLSIs0RIGIkXpB9wMF_EdNote_Header_Web-300x167.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/suwLSIs0RIGIkXpB9wMF_EdNote_Header_Web-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/suwLSIs0RIGIkXpB9wMF_EdNote_Header_Web-800x446.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/suwLSIs0RIGIkXpB9wMF_EdNote_Header_Web-640x357.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/suwLSIs0RIGIkXpB9wMF_EdNote_Header_Web.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tRecent Financial Results Offer Pointers for the Future of Broadcast<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"my-3 d-block d-md-none\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- post id 406730:  \/code\/wp-content\/themes\/ai-beehive\/template-parts\/content\/post-snippet.php --><\/p>\n<figure class=\"overflow-hidden w-100 me-3\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Yigr5W1TlmkU8a2IQcaZ_VS_120118_Cover-300x225.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" style=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Yigr5W1TlmkU8a2IQcaZ_VS_120118_Cover-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Yigr5W1TlmkU8a2IQcaZ_VS_120118_Cover-800x599.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Yigr5W1TlmkU8a2IQcaZ_VS_120118_Cover-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.satellitetoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Yigr5W1TlmkU8a2IQcaZ_VS_120118_Cover.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\">\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"fs-4 w-100 line-clamp-3\">\n<p>\t\t\t\tYahsat, Thuraya CEOs Explain CapEx Plans After Yahsat Takes Control<br \/>\n\t\t<\/h3>\n<p><!-- .post-snippet --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the huge amount of attention given to High Throughput Satellites (HTS), Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations, and NewSpace, it is easy to forget that the bread and butter of the satellite industry remains video broadcast, with this accounting for just over half of satellite industry revenues at year end 2017, and over 1800 new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}