Jordan’s first independent/private TV channel, ATV was supposed to start its broadcast at 5 PM Wednesday. Well, 5 PM came and went and.. nothing happened. THe channel’s broadcast on Nilesat just kept showing their promotional loop.

Al-Ghad daily (which has the same owner as ATV) is reporting that ATV’s launch was stopped by a decision of the Audio Visual Media Comission (the governmental regulatory body responsible for radio and TV licensing) which, according to a statement by ATV, requested that the channel submits some paper work related to it’s licensing.

ATV says that it is convinced its licensing is complete, but it has complied with the commission decision and has not started broadcasting.

What the heck is happening here? After months of preparations, can it be true that ATV doesn’t have all its paperwork in order? I find that pretty hard to believe.

ATV has started a huge ad campaign promoting its launch over the past 2 weeks. The delay of the launch to a “further date” sounds bad, although ATV said in the statement that they hope that the issue is resolved soon.

The only places that reported the canceling of the launch were Al-Ghad and Ad-Dustour dailies. I could not find any blogger reactions on Jordanblogs.net.

The rumors on Thursday will swing between allegations of government harassment of a TV channel (that many see as the last nail in the coffin of the state owned JTV) or a media stunt by ATV to create word of mouth buzz.

For me the delay of the launch added to the black cloud that seems to be hanging over the country these days spawned by the water pollution crisis, the municipal election mess and the heat wave too!

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4 responses to “Why did ATV miss it’s launch yesterday?”

  1. nasimjo Avatar
    nasimjo

    I thought it was at 8, then i said it might be at 9, then said its for sure at midnight …..
    & then slept and saw this post this morning …..

    Because Mohammad al wakeel said he will go on air THIS EVENING!

    JTV is dead, who ever trys to do what ever. I guess ATV will even be affecting pan arab and lebanese channels who all turned saudi style mostly.

  2. Mazz Avatar
    Mazz

    it’s actually quite sad! i mean, suppose they did forget to send in the paper work, “!” let’s wait till their airing date and then tell them about it.
    now that’s the scenario if there was no foul play involved! HA! as if!
    let’s just hope some ‘compensations and penalties’ will be paid, some pencils will be pushed and we’ll get to see ATV soon.

  3. Rifat Avatar
    Rifat

    the audiovisual commission spin is hotair. the channel is simply not ready and may need a few more days. to avert an investor rebellion because of the endless delays, the ATV management instigated the licensing problem with the audiovisual commission. the poor Kuwaiti investor is getting fleeced.

  4. Bilal Avatar
    Bilal

    As if we already dont have any source of information other than JTV and Al-Rai and that by opening ATV we will know the truth immediately. Poor government, they still thinking about withholding information in the Internet era.