Abstract

This chapter provides an overview and analysis of emerging alternatives in the context of Arab television production, programming, and distribution. Media convergence and the access to digital technologies have accentuated the fragmentation of audiences, revenue streams, and forced alliances and competitions between previously discrete sectors of the media business. Yet, alternative practices are closely associated with changing political, economic, and cultural vectors in the Arab region and the increasing integration of its television industries in global media. The chapter argues that these alternatives constitute a set of continuities with the history of Arab television. Taken together, they also demonstrate some level of transformation in production practices, programming strategies, and distribution operations.