10 At the most recent MIP-TV, VideoAge was approached by Middle Eastern TV consultant Elie Kawakabani to introduce a media group that is not well known outside the Gulf Region, but has an impressive TV channel lineup and audience following: The Rotana Group. Indeed, the Rotana Group is the Arab World’s largest entertainment company owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal. In 2012 Rotana announced that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp exercised 50 percent of its previously announced option in Rotana Group. Under the terms of the agreement, News Corp acquired newly-issued shares in Rotana for $35 million. The investment took News Corp’s total stake in Rotana to 18.97 percent. Previously News Corp had acquired a 14.53 percent stake in the group. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the principal shareholder of the Rotana Group, owns approximately seven percent of News Corp’s Class B Common Stock. Toget asenseof thegroup’s impactontheMiddle Eastern media scene, VideoAge interviewed Turki Al Shabanah, president of the television business unit of the Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based Rotana. Al Shabanah, who was educated in the U.S. and spent some time in Washington, D.C., outlined Rotana’s four Arabic TV movie channels, one American film channel; their four international TV channels focusing on the U.S. (Rotana America and LBC America), Europe and Australia; and their Social Islamic TV Channel, aimed at “Preventing extremism in all its forms.” This in addition to five general entertainment channels, including FOX Middle East. He also explained that the word “Rotana” symbolizes a palm tree, more specifically the very rare palm tree found only in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Founded in1987, theRotanamediaconglomerate also incorporates a film production company, a printed magazine, seven music channels, a series of radio stations and a record label. The film division produces and/or acquires up to 45 movies per year, representing 70 percent of the total movie business in the Arab world. It also operates a leading regional advertising sales arm (Rotana Media Services), responsible for advertising sales on its TV channels as well as other media businesses in the region. The Rotana Group has over 1,100 employees located across the Middle East. Rotana’s TV channels, which total 15 — Al Shabanah’s responsibility — were created in 2003 and now serve a worldwide audience estimated at 50 million homes. According to Elie Kawakabani, there are about 90 million TVHH in the Middle East and North Africa, and of these 50 million receive satellite FTA TV services, including Rotana’s channels. In terms of program acquisition, Al Shabanah said that they prefer international formats and co-productions, and they acquire lots of product from Turkey. Said Kawakabani, “We have ambitious distribution plans to co-produce movies and events globally. We also always look at acquisition opportunities all over the world, either in media as part of our media group or as part of our holding company.” Rotana Is Not Just A Rare Saudi Tree: It’s A Family of Popular Arab TV Channels June/July 2014 Middle Eastern TV Rotana’s Turki Al Shabanah, Rotana’s Elie Kawkabani, VideoAge’s Dom Serafini Rotana’s Elie Kawkabani, Martine Rahal, Nada Makhzoum, Ayham Zyoud, Waleed Shaalan, Mohamad Al Khamisi, Abdallah Shabanah General Facts About Saudi Arabian Television The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is covered by some 540 FTA Arab TV channels. Of those, 40 are considered key channels, of which 10 are themostwatched. These include five Dubai, UAE-based MBC stations and one Rotana station, as well as UAE’s Abu Dhabi Al Oula, state-run Saudi TV1, Egypt’s Melody and the Qatar-based Al Jazeera. Though private television stations cannot broadcast from Saudi soil, the market is dominated by six major groups including Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. Digital terrestrial televisionlaunched in 2006 and covers some 90 percent of the population, but the DTT market is limited to an estimated one percent of total TVHH. Satellite dishes are still officially bannedinSaudiArabia,butthecountry has the second highest satellite TV penetration in the Arab region, at 97 percent of TVHH. There are 85 FTA satellite channels headquartered in Saudi Arabia and two of the largest pan-Arab satellite TV broadcasters, MBC and Rotana, are Saudi owned. t 4J[F PG UIF ZFBSMZ BE NBSLFU U.S. 854 million, of which just $34 million is spent on television t 5PUBM 57)) NJMMJPO t 1BZ 57 QFOFUSBUJPO 0OF NJMMJPO TVHH t #SPBECBOE QFOFUSBUJPO 4FWFO QFSDFOU of TVHH (Some of the data provided by Arab Media Outlook 2011-2015 by Dubai Press Club and Deloitte)
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