[10-08-07 – Satellite Today] Middle East consultancy   Arab Advisors says there has been huge growth in the number of Free-To-Air (FTA) satellite channels in the Middle East.

The company said Oct. 7 that the Arab world’s FTA satellite TV channels have grown by a "massive”270 percent between January 2004 and August 2007. By mid-August 2007, the total number of FTA satellite channels reached 370 on Arabsat, Nilesat and new entrant Noorsat. Arab Advisors Group research revealed that the highest number of channel types were private sector general channels at 56, followed by music channels which totalled 54 and government-owned general channels which totalled 38.