Two Arab satellite broadcasting corporations, Nilesat and Arabsat, recently refused to allow al-Alam to continue broadcasting on their frequencies, provoking protestations from Tehran.

VOA: standard.2009.11.16

Egypt's government has just sharply tightened controls over what may be broadcast over the state-owned Nilesat communications platforms, French-built satellites that have captured much of the 300m-strong regional market for satellite television.

ECONOMIST: The authorities want to control the airwaves��if they can

Relaying more than 500 channels, most of them free-to-air rather than fee-paying, Nilesat has helped spawn the revolution in Arab broadcasting that has seen dowdy old state monopolies swamped by a panoply of privately-produced fare.

ECONOMIST: The authorities want to control the airwaves��if they can