Egyptian state TV channels abruptly cease transmission

[sofien72tu]

Egyptian state TV channels abruptly cease transmission

'No one knows reason for technical problem until now,' says Nile TV head Ali Abdel-Rahman

Ahram Online,

A handful of Egyptian state television channels – including Channel 1, Egyptian Satellite TV and some Nile TV channels – abruptly vanished from the airwaves on Sunday evening.

While the channels eventually resumed terrestrial transmissions, satellite transmissions had yet to be restored as of 7:45pm local time.

Salah Hamza, managing director of NileSat, the satellite television platform that carries the channels, said: "The connection was broken by sources outside Egypt; investigations are ongoing to determine the source [of the disconnection]."

Hamza said Channel 1 and Egyptian Satellite TV had been set to a new frequency in order to resume broadcasting, while Nile TV channels, too, were in the process of being set to new frequencies.

Ali Abdel-Rahman, head of Nile TV channels, told Al-Ahram's Arabic-language news website that "no one knows the reason for the technical problem until now now."

Abdel-Rahman went on to stress that Ismail El-Shishtawy, head of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union, was working to resolve the problem with NileSat management.