Television in Saudi Arabia

Television in Saudi Arabia was introduced in 1965, but is now dominated by just five major companies: Middle East Broadcasting Center, SM Enterprise TV, Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, Rotana and Saudi TV. Together, they control 80% of the pan-Arab broadcasting market.^[1] Saudi Arabia is a major market for pan-Arab satellite and pay-TV. Saudi investors are behind the major networks MBC, which is based in Dubai, and Emirates based OSN.^[2]^[3] The Saudi government estimated that in 2000 the average Saudi spent 50% to 100% more time watching television than his or her European or US counterpart.^[4] On average, 2.7 hours are spent daily watching TV in Saudi Arabia.^[3]

The pay-TV market in Saudi Arabia is big, with a penetration estimated at 21%. beIN Sports is one of the largest pay-TV players in terms of subscriptions, with a market share of 59%.

^ The Report: Saudi Arabia 2008. Oxford Business Group. 2008. p. 173. ISBN 9781902339009.
^ "Saudi Arabia profile – Media". BBC News.
^ ^a ^b "Arab Media Outlook 2011–2015". 2012. pp. 159–161.
^ Cordesman, Anthony H. (2003). Saudi Arabia enters the 21st century. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780275980917.

[obg-1] The Report: Saudi Arabia 2008. Oxford Business Group. 2008. p. 173. ISBN 9781902339009.

[bbcprof-2] "Saudi Arabia profile – Media". BBC News.

[amo12-3] "Arab Media Outlook 2011–2015". 2012. pp. 159–161.

[cordes-4] Cordesman, Anthony H. (2003). Saudi Arabia enters the 21st century. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780275980917.

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