Telecommunications in Lebanon - Free Radio and Television Broadcasting

Free Radio and Television Broadcasting

Lebanon possesses one AM radio broadcast station, and 32 FM radio broadcast stations. As of 2005, there are 28 privately owned FM radio stations. One FM station, which shifts between French, English, and Armenian, and the sole AM radio station, which broadcasts solely in Arabic, are owned by the state-owned Radio Lebanon, which is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Information. Radio Lebanon also relays Radio France International at 13:00 (UTC) daily. Among private broadcasters are the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation(LBCI), National Broadcasting Network, Radio One, and the Voice of Tomorrow. There are 2.85 million radios is Lebanon. Furthermore, Lebanon has two digital cable television companies, Cable Vision and echonet.

There are 28 television broadcast stations in Lebanon, although the application of the Audiovisual law has caused the closure of a number of TV stations. The PAL television standard is used in Lebanon. Except for the state-owned Télé-Liban, most broadcasters run commercials and are privately owned. Some of the most important television networks are the LBC, Murr TV, Al Jadeed, Future TV, Orange TV (OTV), Al-Manar, NBN, Télé Lumière, and TL (controlled by the government). There are 1.18 million television sets in Lebanon.