SAT-7

SAT-7
Founded 1995
Founder Dr. Terence Ascott
Type Christian Satellite Television
Location
Area served
Middle East and North Africa, Europe
Method Satellite Television
Key people
 Dr. Terence Ascott, International CEO
Website www.sat7.org www.sat7usa.org

SAT-7 is a Christian satellite television network broadcasting in Arabic, Persian and Turkish across 25 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, along with about 50 countries in Europe. SAT-7 was founded as a nonprofit organization in 1995 with support from Middle Eastern churches. SAT-7 is the first, oldest and largest Christian satellite organization operating in the Middle East and North Africa. Founder Terence Ascott has served as International CEO since 1995. The not-for-profit organization is governed by an international volunteer board.

Network and channels

The network consists of five channels: SAT-7 ARABIC, SAT-7 KIDS (Arabic language), SAT-7 PARS (Persian language), SAT-7 TÜRK (Turkish language) and SAT-7 ACADEMY (Arabic). More than 80% of programming is produced in the Middle East by Middle Easterners. A wide variety of genres are employed, including dramas, music videos, films, cartoons, game shows, teaching programs, documentaries, talk shows and current events programs.

Rooftop Satellite Television Dishes typical in the Middle East and North Africa

SAT-7 programming is available "free to air" to any viewer with access to a television and satellite connection within satellite coverage areas. Estimates indicate about 90% of households in the region have access to a television and an average of 55-60% have access to satellite. In countries such as Iraq, satellite access is approaching 90% of the population. An independent survey indicated 1 in 3 Iraqi children and 1 in 4 Saudi Arabian children watch SAT-7 KIDS. In 2017, the overall viewing audience of its channels is estimated at over 21 million.

SAT-7 is financially supported by interested individuals, churches, corporations and foundations from the Middle East and North Africa and around the world. The organization's mission is advanced by four support offices: SAT-7 Canada, SAT-7 Europe, SAT-7 UK, and SAT-7 USA Rex M. Rogers. SAT-7 USA is a 501(c)3 organization at SAT-7 USA English language home page. Two additional support offices are being developed, SAT-7 South Africa and SAT-7 Brazil.

SAT-7 international headquarters is located in Nicosia, Cyprus.

SAT-7 ARABIC

SAT-7 ARABIC launched May 31, 1996 to provide Arab language Christian programming with blocks of programming specifically for children, youth, and women.[1]

SAT-7 KIDS

SAT-7 KIDS launched on December 10, 2007. It aims to make Christian programming available to an entire generation of Arab children.

SAT-7 PARS

SAT-7 PARS launched on December 18, 2006, although Persian broadcasts began on September 12, 2002 on SAT-7 ARABIC.

SAT-7 TÜRK

SAT-7 has been broadcasting Turkish-language programs from its sister channel, TURK-7, for several years beginning in January 2006.

In January 2010 the Turkish ministry merged with SAT-7 to become its fourth channel – SAT-7 TÜRK.

SAT-7 ACADEMY

SAT-7 ACADEMY, an Arabic language education channel, was launched on September 1, 2017. It features instructional programming in Arabic, English, mathematics, and the sciences for children, parents, and teachers. SAT-7 plans to introduce additional subjects in the future.

The SAT-7 website states that "SAT-7 has always been committed to holistic programming, with the aim of ministering to people in all areas of their life: spiritual, emotional, psychological and physical."[2] Programming has included dramas promoting the rights of children and women, documentaries about microenterprise development, and game shows and music clips that have fostered a better understanding of the needs and potential of the disabled.

The SAT-7 website states that the SAT-7 Academy channel was developed out of concerns of "losing a generation" of Arab children who miss school due to conflict. In response, SAT-7 began on-air classroom-style programming for displaced and refugee children in the Levant.

In the decade before the Arab Spring, the UNDP report on Arab Human Development (2003 – 2009) cited three causes for what it called the severe “backwardness” in the Arab World. One of these principle causes was the widespread lack of opportunity for a good education. Not just having the chance to go to school and learning how to read, but children need to be taught to think for themselves, be equipped and encouraged to question, to be creative and to learn essential life skills.

And, while SAT-7 is always seeking to build such ideas into our on-air programming for children, the network also wishes to address the needs and attitudes of poorly trained teachers and parents. Many have not experienced a form of education that goes beyond rote learning, where violence has been a standard way of maintaining class and home discipline and where an obsession with coming up with “the right” answers has stunted any free thought…or the concept that there might actually be no right answers to some questions.

The idea of an educational channel, with the name SAT-7 ACADEMY, is in fact much more than just the delivery of instruction modules for children and youth hungry to learn the basics of literacy and mathematics. The concept is much more holistic and concerned about the values, attitudes, and character of the next generation in the Arab World; to see Arab children grow up well and to shape a much more inclusive, creative, and democratic society.

References

  1. ↑ "Sat 7". www.sat7.com. Retrieved 2016-05-14.
  2. ↑ "SAT-7 ACADEMY | SAT-7". sat7.org. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
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