In Orbit

Pay TV operator Orbit has enjoyed a strong start to 2009, a promising indicator for the company and the industry at large. CEO Samir Abdulhadi speaks to Digitalproductionme.com about consolidation, football rights and new channel launches. 

DPME: You have previously called for consolidation in both the pay TV and FTA sector in the Middle East, do you think the current financial situation could prompt that process?

Samir Abdulhadi: Yes it could act as a catalyst to trigger this. Not all of the FTA channels are viable and in my opinion having three pay TV operators is not viable in the long run. Some form of consolidation must take place. I could make predictions, however, ultimately what makes economic sense should be the prevailing modus operandi. Consolidation hasn’t happened yet, but you never know…

DPME: It seems that there is a consensus among the pay TV operators that this is necessary, why hasn’t it happened yet?

SA: People think they can continue to operate alone but at the end of the day, one has to leave passion aside and focus on the economics of the business. Every single [pay TV] market outside the Middle East has seen consolidation and the new companies do better in terms of the bottom line, than the previous entities. There is a lesson to be learned from that process.

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SA: We haven’t decided whether to participate or not. The licence fees for such events, although important – I’m not diminishing the importance of the EPL in anyway – can never be recouped from advertising and subscriptions. It is not possible. They have become extremely expensive and Al Jazeera Sports has been extremely active in the football rights market jacking up prices in the process. If they can afford it, good luck to them. Al Jazeera does not have a commercial agenda so whatever they do, it will be permissible.

DPME: What are the company’s plans for the Orbitfone service?

SA: Around a year ago we suspended that business however, there may be opportunities in the future and if things change we’ll be the first to be back. The Bahraini telecoms sector has become too liberalised and too many licenses were issued for that kind of business. If we want to give high service standards to our consumers we need to ensure that whatever we offer is not only competitive but also of a high quality and in the environment that exists in Bahrain at present, we are unable to do so.

DPME: What will Orbit be focusing on 2009?

SA: Orbit always plans to improve its service. We have focused on news in the last quarter adding Fox News and Orbit News 2, primarily because there is a huge interest in news from the Arab population in the region and they wanted to have access to high quality, first hand news especially at the time of the US election.
We have also recently added Fox Sports exclusively and there will be two more sports channels to be launched in the near future.