Will ATV be sold to ART?
Rumors say that ATV might be sold to ART (Arab Radio & Television). ATV is a new independent Jordanian TV station that was supposed to be launched last August, but few “complications” suddenly popped-up when the station was about to broadcast.
Some people say that the government is trying to force ATV’s owners to sell it to ART, which is a Pay TV network owned by a Saudi Sheikh. Which in my opinion raises a flag over the so claimed media liberation in Jordan.
The owner of ATV is a guy who changed the media scene in Jordan; he owns AlGhad newspaper, AlWaseet classified, Fann FM, Rotana FM and a collection of top-selling magazines (Layalina, Viva, Venture…), and now ATV.
But I guess Karma is a bitch. If we go back 4 years, at that time Fann FM was launched even that the private sector wasn’t allowed to own a radio station yet, somehow they managed to do it, but now things changed.
Karma is a bitch.
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Moey said
am September 4 2007 @ 10:45 am
ATV will be fine and will air before Ramadan, its just my feeling.
alcohol is a bitch, never leaves you alone.
amjad mahfouz said
am September 4 2007 @ 11:29 am
yel3an a*****, we want a decent TV station to tell the world here is Jordan and the Jordanian people, see our creativity and media power, they should stop zift channel 1, its depressing and so lowering.
LIONS RULE said
am September 4 2007 @ 6:51 pm
ATV would have been an excellent expression of Jordan and Jordanian’s creative ability. I wouldnt count ATV down for the count just yet. Maybe different ownership, maybe not, at this stage it is all rumors and all we can do is hope that someday soon we will have clients excited about creating TVC’s for a station worthy of their bookings…
Adel said
am September 4 2007 @ 8:18 pm
Fann Fm is owned by the army.
Orraib said
am September 7 2007 @ 4:03 pm
“The owner of ATV is a guy who changed the media scene in Jordan; he owns AlGhad newspaper, AlWaseet classified, Fann FM, Rotana FM and a collection of top-selling magazines (Layalina, Viva, Venture…), and now ATV.”
LOL! all zero-substance neo-liberal media run by shallow pseudo-liberal wannabes and americans and brits. not one of these hit air publications ever raised a real issue such as equality in jordan or election fraud or the corruption or security collaboration with enemies of arabs. they are all brain-numbing magazines and media outlets.
yes he did change the media scene. to a more worthless one, but with nice graphics.
Samer Marzouq said
am September 8 2007 @ 10:32 am
Adel, that’s how they played around it.
Orraib, to me AlGhad newspaper is much better than AlRai, same news and even more moderate subjects that made the newspaper attractive to a wider segment of the population, as for raising such issues I guess we all know how the government is going to deal with such daring media.
Far from politics, if you look at AlWaseet it’s a very effective tool for trading and service offerings, any one can sell, buy, offer their services… easily and effectively - and it is cheap, as for radio it won’t hurt to have a radio station that is less boring than Jordan Radio, and still they are not only entertaining the audience, they air news from time to time and they have a program that delivers audience’s complains to government officials, live on air.
As for the magazines, I consider it ridiculous and silly, but if you got a silly audience you will sell.
ArabianMonkey said
am September 12 2007 @ 1:49 pm
Choice is what is needed. This is not about defending ATV nor taking sides. ATV should go on air. Other stations should go on air. The media scene should explode. There ought to be options for people to watch, consume and make up their own minds. Freedom of thought, choice and expression changes the world, but we’re so pathetically caught up in useless pissing matches within living room walls, while the content landscape of Jordan and the Arab world remains either barren or skewed!
Censorship is the bitch!
Norma said
am September 23 2007 @ 7:45 pm
Dear Orraib:
Sometimes it is better to keep silent if you don’t have enough information, this is a rule of power.
The guy who owned ATV, which was sold today, did indeed try to raise real issues: check at ikibis.com/atv, but he wasn’t allowed to broadcast the real voices and real graphics. Who is to blame? why was he allowed to distribute the as you call them “brain-numbing” magazines and prohibited by the so-called AVC to broadcast the “real graphics”? We are simply forced to be “brain-numbed”.