Asharq Alawsat runs this piece about the efforts of the Saudi Ministry of Information & Culture to update Saudi Arabia’s four terrestrial TV channels. The changes appear to be mostly cosmetic, improving the production values of the broadcasts, though some reference is made to the improvement of content. But Saudi TV’s content will always be less appealing to general audiences than that of its competitors due to cultural taboos and political red-lines.

Saudi Television Gets a Facelift
Abdul Ilah al Khalifi

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- Having been preceded by radio by approximately 50 years, Saudi television has long worked to transmit its bulletins, news and programs according to a traditional technical and media system despite the passing of many years and numerous technical, media-related and social variables; as a result Saudi television production has failed to witness subsequent development. Nevertheless, in recent years Saudi television has decided to abandon its old “look” in favour of a new one aiming at making Saudi television a significant player in the field and pushing it to keep up with the developments that are taking place around it, as well as to face the challenges imposed by the conditions of today’s media.

After having witnessed a radical change within the state-owned Saudi television channels, it was evident that Saudi television had experienced and achieved the “biggest modernization process” of its long history starting with its external décor that until recently took on a more traditional look that failed to keep pace with the modern developments of the broadcasting world. Television studios have clearly benefited from the new look and new apparatus has been introduced at the Saudi television channels such as camera cranes for example. This modernization process also looked at the need for newsreaders to use different gestures and expressions in accordance with the nature of the news that is being conveyed and in accordance with the methods of modern directing and shooting.
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