About 50 private cable operators in Beirut have stopped distributing the French public channel TV5 in retaliation for the French decision to ban the Arab TV channel al-Manar, seen as the mouthpiece of the Hizbollah group. The Arab channel has also been added to the US State Department’s list of suspected terrorist organisations. A spokesman for the cable operators said the decision to halt distribution of TV5 in Beirut is just a first step, and companies in other Lebanese regions will be asked to do likewise. However, cable operators in al-Ashrafiya, a Christian-dominated neighbourhood east of Beirut, said they would not join the action because their clients were largely francophone. TV5 continues to be re-broadcast on Lebanese state media outlets.
on Dec 20th, 2004 at 16:04
This explains why Al Manar TV suddenly disappeared from the Telstar T5 Satellite feed in North America last weekend. They broadcast a half hour of news in English at 1330Z which made for interesting viewing. Now, unfortunately, we can’t see the news as broadcast to the Arab “street.”
on Dec 20th, 2004 at 17:24
Hopefully the new English service of al-Jazeera will be available in the US when it starts next year. The Arabic version is already available in the UK.
on Dec 23rd, 2004 at 05:41
I am amazed that TV5 has not been banned from the US.
This banning due naturally to the strain of US FR relations per the current US-Iraq War.
BBC World TV and BBC World Service is effectivly banned from the US as things currently stand.
The US is somhow an ally of the UK, but the non-avalablity of BBC World TV on Cable / Sat-TV makes this seem such a sham.
TV5 is effectivly an extension of French imprealism anyway, as it has so much content from France.
Belgium / Switzerland / Canada might as well not exist!