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STN favours MEA region, pushes to increase capacity

Service provider says Middle East is in a new TV channel boom

The Middle East and Africa are set to see continued growth, says Satellite Telecommunications Network (STN), a media distribution service provider. The Middle East is an opportunistic area for TV stations the world over, with rising demand for new channels spurred by the political landscape and the vast number of expatriates residing here, it says.

“We have seen significant growth in the number of channels and it is still rising. All major state-owned and private TV stations from around the globe have recognised the need to broadcast over the region. One of the reasons for this is the huge number of nationalities including westerners residing in the region. Another catalyst for this new channel boom is the political situation where the people recognise the need to express different views to the world, and what better way to do this than through TV?” says Mitja Lovšin, Sales and Marketing Director at STN Slovenia.

STN predicts growth and rising demand across the entire African market, a trend that will remain strong for the next several years, says Lovšin.

“We previously recognised the big push into Africa, where the free capacities for the video/audio satellite neighbourhoods have become virtually mission impossible. Based on our forecast, STN will continue to look to increase our capacity over both Africa and the Middle East in the next couple of years. STN has been involved in Africa for some time now and is currently providing the full head-end service for the largest distribution platform of the none-African-origin content. STN has also secured two of the largest high-profile direct-to-home projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.