International (SAT7/MNN) — SAT-7
PLUS is live. SAT-7 USA President Rex Rogers
explains the hybrid concept of the Third Arabic Channel launch. "It is going to put the best programming of
those two channels together. We're calling it SAT-7 PLUS. That's one
reason it doesn't cost us significantly more, because we're using programming
that's already been produced for these other channels."
While SAT-7 PLUS is consolidating the two existing
Arabic-language channels on the Hot Bird satellite: SAT-7 ARABIC and SAT-7 KIDS,
these two channels will continue to be broadcast on the Nilesat satellite
platform.
This initiative allows for
additional coverage. For example, "This
footprint covers Morocco, in particular, which is the far western part of West
Africa. SAT-7 PLUS will help us cover
that particular country's viewership better than before."
Rogers adds, "The satellite footprint covers all 50
countries of Europe. This new SAT-7 PLUS will do a better job of focusing on
those northern countries; there are a lot of Middle Eastern expatriates now in
Europe who are still first-language Arabic people. They still speak Arabic, and they're looking
for resources."
Millions of viewers who have
satellite receivers that access both
the Nilesat and Hot Bird broadcasts will have greater viewing options and the
ability to choose programming from 3 different schedules.
The move also positions the ministry to be able to share the
Hope of Christ at a critical time with an expanded audience. "If we put a
little ‘f' on there for 'family channel,' that's really what SAT-7 PLUS is. It's
aimed at the entirety of the Arabic language family, so special Christmas
programming fits perfectly in that."
Although the Holy Spirit directs people's hearts, Rogers
hopes that the programming would play a role in "opening their hearts to truth
and opening their hearts to something that really is about love, forgiveness
and hope. These are really foreign concepts, religiously, for many in the Arab
world."
From a technical perspective,
the ministry will be better positioned to roll out new services and/or
channels, ongoing.
SAT-7 management has utilized
this opportunity to make other significant advances in the operation of the
ministry: how it stores programs and how it schedules and broadcasts its five
channels. These improvements involve
investments in new computer hardware and software systems that, when finished,
will save the ministry approximately $60,000 per month in operational costs,
amounting to more than $3 million over the next 5 years.
The new SAT-7 PLUS channel
will begin broadcasting at 1:00 AM local time on December 10, 2010 on Hot Bird 8 at 13° E, 12.380 GHz V — the current frequency
used by SAT-7 ARABIC.
