Syria: Improvements in state-run satellite TV - Lebanese paper.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Text of report by Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir website on 18 November

It is as if Syrian Arab Television, both terrestrially and via satellite, was, for years, out of the competition and far from the realms of progress and creativity. Millions of Syrian viewers' rooftops were filled with satellite dishes that could receive hundreds of channels.

Arab viewers were glued to Syrian fantasy drama, and not to the Syrian satellite channel, which was content, at the time, with presenting traditional shows - just to spare itself any reproach - and lengthy monotonous newscasts without substance. This was before the appearance of stars such as Terje Roed-Larsen and Detlev Mehlis in the Arab skies. Nowadays, however, the situation is completely different. When it came under …