continued: " Uses and Gratifications of Satellite TV in Egypt" by Hala Abdel Rahman
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page 1 | 2 | Table: Satellite TV Viewing Motivations

Major Findings and Discussion
Table: Satellite TV Viewing Motivations

Hypothesis 1: A higher number of viewers from the satellite TV households tend to watch for cognitive rather than affective needs (that is, for time consumption and entertainment motivations or for non-escapist motives).

Results showed support for this hypothesis:

*89 percent of the total sample reported that they watch satellite TV to understand what’s going on in the world. *81 percent watch satellite TV to learn from things happening in the world. *79 percent watch to obtain useful information for daily life. *79 percent want to observe foreign cultures and traditions. *76 percent watch to obtain information about foreign lifestyles.

We can observe that understanding is the most important cognitive need reported by total respondents in satellite TV households. Diversity is the most important reported affective need, with 88 percent responding.

Much controversy is raised over satellite TV programming and content, and the amount of sex and pornography shown on its screen. A desire “to watch uncensored shows and programs” was reported as a reason to watch satellite TV by 42 percent of the total respondents, while 52 percent disagreed that this is a reason to watch satellite TV.

H2: Viewers in satellite TV households tend to watch more satellite TV than national TV.

The number of hours spent daily with satellite TV did indeed prove to be longer than the number of hours spent with national TV among this sample. 86 percent of viewers in the satellite TV households reported that they watch satellite TV every day, whereas only 49.7 percent of the sample watch national TV every day. When they do watch national TV, 70.3 percent reported that it is for 12 hours, the lowest time bracket, while only 40.6 percent of satellite viewers put their viewing in this category. Similarly, only 1.9 percent of the total respondents watch national TV for 68 hours daily, the highest time category, but 5.8 percent watch satellite TV 68 hours daily.

H3. A significantly larger number of viewers in satellite TV households tune to international satellite TV services than Arabic satellite TV services.

57.4 percent of the total number of viewers reported watching more international satellite TV services than Arabic satellite TV services, while 36.8 percent of the total respondents preferred Arabic satellite TV services. 1.9 percent stated an equal preference, and 3.9 percent gave no response.

H4. There is a significant relationship between satellite TV viewing motivations and media consumption.
H4 (a) Satellite TV viewers with cognitive motivations are predicted to be light viewers.
H4 (b) Satellite TV viewers with affective motivations are predicted to be heavy viewers.

To test this hypothesis, satellite TV viewers were divided into two groups, light viewers, who watch satellite TV for up to 7 hours per week (1 hour/day), and heavy viewers, who watch satellite TV more than 7 hours per week (>1 hour/day). It is noteworthy that the total number of light viewers from the total sample is 28, whereas the total number of heavy viewers is 260. In other words, the majority of viewers in the satellite TV households are heavy viewers.

Eighty-six percent of viewers who watch satellite TV up to 7 hours a week (light viewers) gave as their primary reason for viewing “because there is a wide variety of channels.” The most popular response among heavy viewers, with 93 percent, was that they watch satellite TV “to understand what’s going on in the world.” Diversity is the next highest motivation for heavy viewers in the satellite TV households; 92 percent reported that they watch satellite TV because there is a wide variety of channels.

H5. A significant number of viewers in satellite TV households rely on satellite TV as the major news source.
H5 (a) Arabic satellite TV services will come first in the news source rank order.
H5 (b) International satellite TV services will come second in news source rank order.
H5 (c) Egyptian national television will come last in the news source rank order.

As the hypothesis expected, in general, satellite TV viewers rely on satellite TV as a major news source. Arabic satellite TV services were ranked first with a mean score of 197.7. International satellite TV services came in second place with a mean score 186.7. Newspapers followed with a mean score of 170.7; Egyptian TV with a mean score of 123.0 was ranked fourth, and radio stations ranked last with a mean score of 121.7.

H6. There is an evident difference between satellite TV and national TV program genre preference for viewers in satellite TV households.

Mean scores were calculated as well as a rank order for all 16 satellite TV program genres listed in the questionnaire in order to come up with the following top six, ranked by order of preference:

1. News
2. Foreign movies
3. Music programs
4. Arabic movies
5. Sports programming
6. Foreign series

Preferences in Egyptian television programs were ranked differently, the top six being:

1. Arabic movies
2. Foreign movies
3. News
4. Foreign series
5. Music programs
6. Arabic series

Sports programs, fifth in the satellite preferences, is seventh in the Egyptian TV list. Arabic series ranks ninth among satellite TV preferences.

H7. Age is a significant factor in determining the uses and gratifications of satellite TV viewing.
H7 (a) Young adults (18-29 years old) are more likely to seek to fulfill affective needs.
H7 (b) Older adults (30-60 years old) are more likely to seek to fulfill cognitive needs.

The highest percentage of “agree” responses among young adults viewers in satellite TV households was for the reason “Because there is a wide variety of channels” (90 percent). This answer falls in the “diversity” category, an affective need. This was the most popular response among older adults as well, also at 90 percent.

From the above we can say that diversity of channels is the prominent viewing reason for both young and older adults viewers in satellite TV households. Hence, this result does not support the hypothesis.

H8 Gender is a significant factor in determining the uses and gratifications of satellite TV viewers.
H8 (a) Males are more likely to seek to fulfill cognitive needs.
H8 (b) Females are more likely to seek to fulfill affective needs.

The results significantly support this hypothesis. The highest “agree” percentage among by male respondents, 91 percent, was given to “understanding what’s happening on in the world,” which falls in the understanding category of cognitive needs.

The highest number of female viewers in satellite TV households, 94 percent, agreed to the reason "because there is a wide variety of channels." In other words, females are more likely to watch satellite TV for reasons of its diversity, thus, fulfilling affective/escapist needs.

H9 A significant number of satellite TV viewers believe satellite TV has a positive impact on society.

Eighty-nine percent of the total sample reported that they think that satellite TV has an impact on society, whereas 5.2 percent answered that they don’t know if satellite TV has an impact on society or not. Of that 89 percent, 70.9 percent think that the impact on society is a positive one. 10.3 percent believe the impact is a negative one. Other subjects thought that it has both positive and negative impact on society and 12.3 percent answered that they didn’t know.

Additional Findings

• 7.7 percent of the total sample were recent satellite TV viewers, owning their receiving systems for 1-6 months. 18 percent had owned satellite equipment for 6-12 months. The highest percentage of ownership duration in the selected sample was in the range from 1-2 years, with 36.1 percent. That was followed by 3-4 years with also a relatively high percentage of 26.6 percent. Only 5.8 percent of the total sample were found to own satellite TV receiving systems for more than four years. 5.8 percent did not state their exact ownership duration.
• Results showed that 24.5 percent of the sample also have access to cable TV via decoders.
• 44.6 percent of the total sample have two TV sets, and 29 percent own three sets. 11.6 percent own one TV and 11.6 percent possess more than three TV sets at home. The remaining 3.2 percent did not state the number of TV sets in their house
• Respondents were asked to write down their favorite Arab and international channels. The researcher calculated the top 10 international satellite TV channels and results revealed the following:

1. CNNI: 138 respondents
2. Euronews: 126 respondents
3. NBC Super Channel and Eurosport share third place with 78 respondents each.
4. The music channel MTV: 74 respondents
5. The Italian channel RAI UNO: 46 responses
6. The French channel TV5: 38 respondents
7. The music channel MCM: 34 respondents.
8. Turkish SHOW TV and Israeli channel 2 shared the 8th place with 32 responses each.
9. The Spanish channel TVE and Israel 1 shared ninth place with 24 responses each.
10. BBC World: 20 responses

The top 10 Arabic satellite channels were calculated as follows:

1. The Lebanese channel LBC: 246 respondents
2. MBC: 174 respondents
3. The Saudi network ART: 140 respondents
4. The Lebanese channel Future TV: 104 respondents
5. The Egyptian Space Channel (ESC): 70 respondents
6. Dubai TV: 60 respondents.
7. ANN (Arab News Network), a relatively recent news channel: 36 respondents
8. The United Arab Emirates channel Abu Dhabi TV: 34 responses
9. The news channel al-Jazeera: 32 respondents.
10. Kuwait TV: 24 respondents.

From the previous results, the researcher came up with indications on satellite TV viewership, which could be summarized as follows:

• Viewers in the satellite TV households tend to watch specialized channels. It is evident that news (CNN, Euronews, BBC, ANN, al-Jazeera), music (MTV, MCM) sports channels (EuroSport) were listed as the channels most frequently watched.
• News channels represent the highest percent of the favorite channels. This is consistent with previous findings that show that 89 percent of the overall sample watch satellite TV to understand what is going on in the world.
• The language of the channel could be an important factor in attracting viewers. In the list of favorite international channels, it was obvious that English-language channels are most watched by subjects; six of the top ten international channel broadcast in English. This could be an indication that English is the most widely spoken foreign language among educated Egyptians (two French-language channels, MCM and TV5, also appear among the top-10 list, along with two Italian channels, and one Turkish channel. Russian, German, Mandarin and other available foreign-language channels do not appear on the list.)

This could also explain why some Arabic channels do not enter the list of favorites, as some Arabic countries with satellite channels, such as Yemen, Morocco, Tunis, and Libya, use dialects unfamiliar to Egyptian viewers. However, this cannot be considered the only factor for the lower popularity of these channels in Egypt; poor programming and repetition are additional factors that lead viewers to tune to the more attractive and richer programming of other Arabic-language channels.

Conclusions and Recommendations
The evolution of global communications and its rapid development has given rise to a strong interest in the television as medium. This has been clearly evidenced by the proliferation of antennas for the reception of satellite services throughout the Middle East. The content of much satellite programming is inconsistent with the culture and religion of the region, as it depicts excessive violence and highly unacceptable sexual behavior according to the mores of Middle Eastern culture. Yet, properly executed, satellite TV is also an excellent family device for entertainment, learning, and communication.

Viewers are demanding more information, more entertainment and more news programs. Today television programming must meet viewer’s expectations (and advertiser’s desires as well) in order to attract viewers to a particular channel. In an atmosphere of heavy competition among stations, this cannot be achieved unless more creative programs and graphics are produced. In fact, one of the most noticeable differences between Eastern channels and Western ones is that the Western channels have a higher level of sophistication in their use of graphics and advanced technology.

The present investigation was an exploratory examination of the satellite TV viewing motives of Egyptian adults. The researcher suggests future investigations on the impact of satellite TV on various ages in society, the sociological impact of satellite TV on Egyptian family social activities, and the possible impact of satellite TV on youth concerning their social, educational and economic behavior. Since news proved to be the most important program type watched by adult Egyptian satellite TV viewers, a special content analysis and comparison may be applied to come up with the format most favored by Egyptian audiences, especially with the recent launch of the Nile Specialized News Channel; the same applies to sports, drama, and children’s channels. A content analysis of satellite TV channels most watched by Egyptian audiences could be conducted to investigate their favorite issues and formats. TBS

1) Shaheen, Heba. “The Uses and Gratifications of Cable Network Egypt (CNE) in Egypt.” Master’s thesis, Department of Broadcasting, Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University, 1996.

Hala Abdel Rahman works with the International Marketing Division of ART (Arab Radio and Television). She is the former editor of Satellite Guide, a weekly magazine published in Cairo, and former announcer for Saudi Arabian TV Channel 2. She received her master's degree in journalism and mass communication from the American University in Cairo.