JumpTV broadens service to Arabic speakers

Looking to expand its reach to the estimated 500,000 to one million Arabic speakers in Canada, JumpTV. Inc. has launched a new online service that will stream more than 35 new channels of different genres. Talfazat.com, was launched two weeks ago, but was officially announced this week. Coming just a week before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on September 2, JumpTV hopes to spur interest from Arabic speakers during a time when viewership peaks among the Arab and Muslim audience. A leading Internet rebroadcaster of third language services from 180 countries, this is not the first time Jump TV is offering Arabic content online. Through Talfazat.com, Jump TV will expand its services, aiming for over 3,000 hours of popular shows of different genres, including movies, music, and talk shows, says Amir Hegazi, GM for Talfazat.Hegazi says expanding services to Canada's Arabic speakers was also based on research that showed that Arabic speakers' broadband connectivity was higher than the average mean of the population in Canada and the US. In addition, Hegazi says research also shows that Arabic speakers' online credit card payments were higher than the average mean in both Canada and the US.Talfazat's future growth, however, is likely to get a boost from JumpTV. A third of the rebroadcaster's estimated 70,000 subscribers are from the Middle East. To reach these subscribers, Jump TV has created a link on its site that will redirect traffic to Talfazat. Hegazi says Talfazat is starting off with about 10,000 subscribers and adds that in about a year, it hopes to be within striking distance of 70,000."We hope to get about 30,000 to 35, 000 subscribers," he says.To attract subscribers, the new online service is offering discounts for three different packages it carries. In November, Hegazi says Talfazat hopes to further increase its subscriber base when it launches set-top boxes that will have an integrated offering with the web. Currently, Talfazat is involved in marketing campaigns in media that cater to Arabic speakers in Canada.The 35 live channels Talfazat is offering include top pan-Arab channels like Dubai TV, MBC, LBC, and Aljazeera, whose inclusion is likely to reignite the debate about regulation of online content deemed to be in contravention of Canada's laws.Despite a spirited campaign to bar Aljazeera from Canada, the CRTC approved its distribution through direct-to-home satellite transmission in 2004, under strict conditions."Part of the decision suggested that anybody who carried Aljazeera television has to monitor it regularly to ensure that it will be in complete compliance with Canadian law," says Bernie Farber, CEO, Canadian Jewish Congress."We will be monitoring closely," he says.

JumpTV broadens service to Arabic speakers

News | 08/27/2008 8:09 pm EDT

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