Text of report by leading moderate reformist Iranian daily E’temad website on 28 August
More than a month after the official launch of the Persian MBC television network, which broadcasts American movies with Persian subtitles on a 24-hour basis and free of charge, officials at the Iranian Voice and Vision [Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting] are taking steps to launch an independent 24/7 network in response to MBC’s Persian channel. The new Iranian network would broadcast films and serials in Arabic for audiences in the Middle East.
From Wednesday 19 Tir [9 July], when the Persian version of MBC known as MBC Persian began broadcasting, until yesterday, when IRIB’s deputy director for international affairs gave news of the plan to launch a network broadcasting films and serials in Arabic, there have not been any other serious reactions by the media managers of the Islamic Republic. Of course this is in accordance with the usual tradition of our country’s media managers whereby reactions always follow an initial silence.
In such circumstances, one of the managers at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting gave news of the plan to launch a 24- hour network for broadcasting films and serials with Arabic subtitles.
Speaking to Mehr News Agency about the reaction of the national media to the measure taken by the MBC network, the international affairs deputy of the Voice and Vision, Mohammad Sarafraz, said: We have proposed a plan to launch a 24-hour network broadcasting films and serials in Arabic for the Middle East region, which will be launched if the budget is secured.
According to Sarafraz, the place for an independent film and movie channel in the Middle East is vacant and many families are interested in watching films and serials that do not carry any bad teachings with them [e.g. violence, sex].
Without mentioning whether the production of the network would be domestic or foreign, this senior manager at the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting announced: We have a five-year plan for boosting international channels and the plan for a film and serials channel is independent from this general plan and we are interested in creating numerous other networks such as films and serial channels. [sentence as published]
Making the point that this independent film and serial channel would not be inconsistent with the Al-Kawthar network, he said: Al- Kawthar network is a popular channel which broadcasts one film and serial a day in Arabic, while the major activity of the network is to promote and propagate Islamic teachings.
Since the launch of MBC Persian, this network has gradually been recognized by its Iranian audiences as a satellite channel which broadcasts foreign films with Persian subtitles while cutting out immoral scenes and dialogue. But it would seem that the channel has not acquired an audience in proportion to its initial expectations.
The launch of MBC Persian was accompanied by much publicity and hoopla and it appeared that its managers intended to have a serious presence in the Iranian media scene. But one month after its launch, the choice of poor and low-quality films, most of which are from the inferior American cinema industry, shows that the managers of the channel have been mistaken in their assessment of the taste of their viewers.
MBC Persian is a new channel from the MBC multimedia group whose programmes are broadcast with the aim of attracting viewers living in the Middle East. This media organization has numerous channels, the most well-known of which is MBC 2, which broadcasts American movies with Arabic subtitles and cutting out the immoral scenes. The organization belongs to a Saudi prince and has been active since the early 1990s. It also recently launched the Al-Arabiya news channel, which has attracted much controversy in domestic and foreign circles due to its stance towards Iran.
MBC Persian programmes are broadcast from Dubai and the managers of this network have spoken very little about its objectives and programmes since the channel was launched. The only aim that has been mentioned in the official website of this network about launching MBC Persian is paying attention to the huge Persian audiences and including them in the programmes of MBC.
In the last year, there have been many reports about the launch of Persian-language television networks. Apart from BBC Persian, which last year made known it would launch during the current year, the European parliament and Turkey’s state television and radio are also expected to launch Persian-language networks. This is while it is over eight years since the broadcast of Persian language networks, most of which broadcast from Los Angeles, America.
All these cases indicate an intense competition for attracting Persian audiences.
Originally published by E’temad website, Tehran, in Persian 28 Aug 08.
(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Media. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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