By Elias Sakr – The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Internet lags behind the rest of the world with slow connection speeds and high subscription rates, but these obstacles didn’t stop the Lebanese Forces from launching one of the first web television stations in the Middle East this week.
Although many local and Arab TV stations have been streaming some of their programs online for the past few years, these should not be confused with WebTV, also known as Internet protocol television (IPTV), which delivers content originally online via broadband and mobile networks.
Tony Abi Najem, editor-in-chief of the LF news website, told The Daily Star that the major goal behind LF WebTV is to keep pace with the worldwide Internet and technology boom in an effort to reach young people and future generations.
Abi Najem said the LF started live streaming operations from its news website in September 2008, when it broadcasted an LF mass in Jounieh to honor the party’s martyrs.
Efforts toward a full-scale online station intensified in early 2010 when the LF staff began broadcasting investigative and news reports, as well as live streaming major events in Lebanon, Abi Najem added.
During the next 10 days, the LF WebTV will only be live streaming evening news broadcasts, but within two months, broadcast time will be extended to six hours and will include additional investigative reports and news features.
Abi Najem said that Wednesday’s news broadcast was an early indicator of the potential popularity of the LF WebTV as traffic to site was very high, surpassing the staff’s expectations as well as the website’s capacity, freezing it for a short period.
According to Abi Najem, early numbers put live viewers at “almost 200,000” on the first day, excluding viewers who watched the news report later that evening.
Despite scarce funding sources, the already-established platform of the LF website and donations from Lebanese expatriates in the United Arab Emirates, North Africa and North America, along with funds allocated by the party, helped to launch the WebTV, Abi Najem said.
Despite Lebanon’s low Internet connection speed and the outdated infrastructure, Abi Najem said the LF WebTV will be broadcasting around the clock in two years.
However, the LF WebTV is no substitute for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), over which the LF hopes to eventually regain ownership, according to Abi Najem, who also said that some parties were putting political pressure on the judiciary to stall the trial proceedings.
In October 2010, the LF moved closer to regaining the possession of LBC after the judiciary issued a verdict favoring the LF in its ongoing dispute over the station with its chairman Pierre Daher.
The legal dispute over the ownership of the station, established by the LF in 1985, started in November 2007.
While local TV and radio stations are governed by the1996 Audiovisual Media Law, Lebanon currently has no laws regulating electronic media such as news websites and WebTV.
A draft law proposed by Metn MP Ghassan Moukheiber in November 2010, in cooperation with the Maharat Association, suggested the introduction of a new chapter in the law to regulate electronic media, among other reforms to laws regulating Lebanese media.
However, Maharat, which is a team of young journalists who work to promote free journalism and the regulation of media activities without self-censorship or government-imposed constraints, has faced several obstacles.
Endorsement of the law seems distant as an agreement over the proposed reforms has yet to be reached by the parties, which benefit from the current law to wield covert control over media outlets, under the cloak of corporations.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Jul-29/LF-WebTV-lures-almost-200000-viewers-on-launch-day-party-says.ashx#ixzz1TUXHkSzI
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)