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Nilesat blocks Hezbollah’s Al Manar
Rebecca Hawkes
| 07 April 2016
Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat has stopped transmitting broadcasts from Al Manar, the TV channel run by Lebanon’s Shi’a militia group Hezbollah.
Nilesat, which blocked Al Manar on 6 April, described the channel of “formenting sectarian tension and strife”, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA).
Hezbollah, which has parliamentary representation in Lebanon, is classed a terrorist organisation by western nations, Israel, and more recently, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Arab League. It began broadcasting Al Manar terrestrially from Beirut in 1991, and via satellite in 2000.
Hezbollah condemned Nilesat’s decision to block its broadcasts as “unjust”.
The Egyptian satellite operator has also told the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications that its contract with the Lebanese state expired in 2015, so it would cease broadcasting from the government earth station in Jouret Al Ballout. As a result, concern has been raised locally that Lebanese TV channels, including TeleLiban, Al Jadeed, and NBN, may also be blocked by Nilesat.
“The Telecoms Minister and I are trying to address the issue with the Nilesat administration and the relevant authorities in Egypt,” Lebanese Information Minister Ramzi Joreige told Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star. “We informed them that we are in the process of renewing it [the licence], but because the cabinet did not meet, it could not be renewed,” he added.
Rebecca Hawkes
| 07 April 2016
Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat has stopped transmitting broadcasts from Al Manar, the TV channel run by Lebanon’s Shi’a militia group Hezbollah.
Nilesat, which blocked Al Manar on 6 April, described the channel of “formenting sectarian tension and strife”, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA).
Hezbollah, which has parliamentary representation in Lebanon, is classed a terrorist organisation by western nations, Israel, and more recently, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Arab League. It began broadcasting Al Manar terrestrially from Beirut in 1991, and via satellite in 2000.
Hezbollah condemned Nilesat’s decision to block its broadcasts as “unjust”.
The Egyptian satellite operator has also told the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications that its contract with the Lebanese state expired in 2015, so it would cease broadcasting from the government earth station in Jouret Al Ballout. As a result, concern has been raised locally that Lebanese TV channels, including TeleLiban, Al Jadeed, and NBN, may also be blocked by Nilesat.
“The Telecoms Minister and I are trying to address the issue with the Nilesat administration and the relevant authorities in Egypt,” Lebanese Information Minister Ramzi Joreige told Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star. “We informed them that we are in the process of renewing it [the licence], but because the cabinet did not meet, it could not be renewed,” he added.
